Photovoltaic sand control mode to achieve "sand control, ecology, industry, poverty alleviation" four-wheel drive

Abstract: The photovoltaic desertification control model, which combines desert control, photovoltaic power generation and planting and breeding, has turned the dormant land resources into assets. In Dengkou County, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia, a 1,700-mu photovoltaic desertification control project has seen the vegetation coverage rate around the photovoltaic power station rise from 5% at the initial stage of construction to 77% after the project was completed. Besides creating green ecological and economic benefits, the construction of the photovoltaic power station has also driven the surrounding farmers and herdsmen to achieve poverty alleviation and prosperity. 
This year, Yang Fengxiang, a 57-year-old farmer who was once listed as a poor household, has raised over 3,000 chickens, ducks and geese, generating an annual income of more than 100,000 yuan. He told reporters with confidence that he plans to add more types of livestock to his farm. 
Yang Fengxiang's home is located in Hangjin Naoer Village, Duoguitala Town, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia. The land at his home is severely salinized and alkalized, making it difficult for crops to grow. The livestock he raises have no way to be sold. Besides government subsidies, his family has no other income every year. Since participating in the ecological photovoltaic project in March 2018, his family's economic conditions have undergone unexpected changes. 
Yang Fengxiang's story is just one of the cases benefiting from the "forest and light complementary" comprehensive desertification control industry in Inner Mongolia. With the strong support of national policies, green energy, desert control and poverty alleviation have come together.

Green energy hand in hand with desert governance
Land and sunlight are critical factors that constrain solar power generation. However, in desert regions, these challenges can be effectively mitigated. For instance, the Kubuqi Desert, located on the southern bank of the Yellow River's "Ji"-shaped bend, was once notorious as the "Sea of Death." According to historical data, prior to 2000, it contributed approximately 24 million tons of sediment annually to the Yellow River. Despite this, the desert possesses abundant solar energy resources and vast tracts of land. The average annual effective sunshine duration exceeds 3,180 hours, providing unique conditions conducive to the development of the photovoltaic industry.

Under the guidance of national policies, green energy initiatives and desert control efforts have converged. Following comprehensive research and evaluation, in September 2015, the National Energy Administration issued the "Notice on Increasing the Construction Scale of Photovoltaic Power Stations in Certain Areas in 2015," mandating an increase of 5.3 million kilowatts nationwide for the year, with 200,000 kilowatts specifically allocated to Inner Mongolia for the "photovoltaic sand control" project in Kubuqi. In the same year, the Kubuqi Desert initiated a 1,000 MWp ecological solar photovoltaic and thermal sand control and power generation integrated demonstration project, comprising 900 MWp for photovoltaic sand control and 100 MWp for thermal sand control. By 2017, the energy management department and the forestry department designated this project as a "forest-solar complementary" sand control industry demonstration base. In 2018, a 200 MWp solar power generation project within this initiative was included in the subsidy program for the Beijing-Tianjin Sand Source Control Project.

Today, the Kubuqi Desert region has established an initial cluster of desert green economy enterprises, involving over 100 domestic and international companies, with a business scale exceeding 100 billion yuan and market potential surpassing one trillion yuan.

According to projections, upon completion of the photovoltaic desertification control demonstration project, it is anticipated to achieve a desertification control area of 100,000 mu, generate 2.55 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, save approximately 440,000 tons of standard coal annually, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 1.161 million tons, sulfur dioxide emissions by about 39,000 tons, and nitrogen oxide emissions by about 19,000 tons.

Photovoltaic sand control, poverty alleviation and benefit the people
It is worth mentioning that in the Kubuqi photovoltaic sand control demonstration project, photovoltaic construction and operation enterprises have successfully explored a new model of "photovoltaic +" three-dimensional governance, that is, the use of solar photovoltaic power generation, the planting of desert economic plants such as licorice under the photovoltaic equipment, and the breeding of chickens, ducks, geese and geese in the middle, while desert governance has led the surrounding farmers and herdsmen to get rid of poverty and get rich. The four-wheel drive development of desertification control, ecology, industry and poverty alleviation has been realized.

The photovoltaic sand control model combining desert management, photovoltaic power generation and planting has turned the sleeping land resources into assets. In Dengkou County, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia, there is a photovoltaic sand control project covering an area of 1700 mu, the initial construction of photovoltaic power station, the surrounding vegetation coverage rate is only 5%, and after the completion of the project, the vegetation coverage rate rises to 77%.

In addition to creating ecological and economic benefits, the construction of photovoltaic power stations has also driven surrounding farmers and herdsmen to achieve poverty alleviation and prosperity. It is understood that through the poverty alleviation industrialization cooperation mechanism such as "company + farmers" and "farmer general contracting", trained farmers and herdsmen participate in the operation of the power station, and achieve "tailored to local conditions" and "precise poverty alleviation". Data show that the Dengkou County photovoltaic sand control project construction and operation cycle will also help more than 800 poor households, create more than 1,000 job opportunities, increase the income of farmers and herdsmen more than 19 million yuan.

Zhao Rui, a poor household in Nuer village, Wulat Zhongqi, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia, said he contracted to clean solar panels in one of the districts. Just clean the photovoltaic panel regularly, while planting grass and taking care of sheep, you can get a net income of 24,000 yuan a year.

It is reported that since the photovoltaic project has been put into operation, Yili Group has launched the "photovoltaic module cleaning + planting and maintenance + farming under the board" precision poverty alleviation project, investing nearly 2 million yuan every year, poverty alleviation for farmers and herdsmen in Duguitara Town, Hangjin Banner, and continuing to help 57 poor households, each poor household contracts an average of 4-8 MW module cleaning and planting under the board. The average annual income of each household can be increased by 32,000 yuan.

Today, the new model of photovoltaic power generation, ecological restoration, poverty alleviation and win-win development has taken root in the hinterland of the Kubuqi Desert, and has successfully exited the Kubuqi Desert to Hebei, Xinjiang and other places.

Kubuqi photovoltaic sand control practice shows that desertification control must consider ecology, ecology must rely on industry, industry must drive ecology. It is necessary to make good use of the three basic accounts of "ecology", "economy" and "people's livelihood".

Create a three-dimensional photovoltaic power generation model

At the location of Kubuqi photovoltaic sand Control Project in Hangjin Banner, Inner Mongolia, the nearly 3-meter-high photovoltaic bracket has been covered by alfalfa, licorice and other ground plants. Under the photovoltaic panel, poultry such as chickens and ducks are also running from time to time. This three-dimensional photovoltaic power generation model of composite ecology and circular economy not only obtains clean energy, but also forms a virtuous cycle of the ecosystem by improving the soil through plants and raising poultry according to the capacity of livestock, accelerating the process of desertification control and soil improvement.

If you want to grow crops in the desert, you must first solve the problems of serious water loss in the desert and excessive direct sunlight. It is estimated that the shading effect of photovoltaic panels can reduce the amount of water evaporation by 20%-30%, and photovoltaic module panels can also effectively reduce wind speed, which can improve the living environment of plants. The emergence of vegetation, in turn, helps to consolidate sand and retain water on the surface.

"Photovoltaic panels block light and wind, reduce soil water evaporation, and effectively reduce wind speed." Planting licorice plants under and between the boards has a biological nitrogen fixation effect, which can increase soil fertility year by year, and after the end of the life of the photovoltaic project, the land has changed from desert sand to good fields." Billions of Kubuqi photovoltaic power plant responsible for Tian Junting said.

There are many similar photovoltaic sand control projects in the northwest region, which is seriously affected by wind and sand. The climate there is dry, rainfall is very little, direct sunlight for a long time, has the richest solar energy resources in China. In fact, many desert areas are rich in groundwater, but they lack the energy form to use groundwater, and the combination of solar water pumps and fine drip irrigation technologies has solved this dilemma well, which can provide sustainable power for improving desertification.

The "photovoltaic sand control" model, which combines photovoltaic power generation and desert management, not only provides green electricity by making full use of superior resources such as land and light in desert areas, but also effectively improves the desertified soil by planting crops under photovoltaic panels and provides more land that can be cultivated, which undoubtedly has more important practical significance at present.