The car drove into the territory of Dengkou County, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, all the way to the west through Ulan Bu and the vast sand sea of the desert, and about 10 kilometers to the east is the famous Yellow River "several bends" - ecological governance battle, which has been fully launched here. Outside the car window, blue photovoltaic panels are neatly arranged on the undulating sand, which looks like a "blue ocean" in a sea of sand from a distance.
The reporter visited the Ulan Bu and desert in the "zizi bend" area of the Yellow River and found that with the popularization and application of photovoltaic sand control technology, the eighth largest desert in China that was ravaged by wind and sand in the past is building an ecological photovoltaic base, and the method of on-board power generation and under-board planting is gradually turning the sand sea into a "blue ocean" and an oasis.
Our power station is a photovoltaic sand control project. When the reporter walked into one of the "blue oceans", Fan Liang, director of the photovoltaic power station of the State Power Investment Corporation's Dengkou sand control project, said that photovoltaic sand control refers to the generation of electricity through solar photovoltaic panels, planting sand control plants under the panels, using photovoltaic panels to shade the sun, reduce surface water evaporation, and help surface vegetation restoration, so as to achieve the dual effects of generating electricity and reducing desertification and land desertification.
Inner Mongolia Dengkou County Ulan Buhe Desert Photovoltaic Desert Control Base (Photo: Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yunping).
The seedlings around us were planted in 2023 and will become a 'good helper' for desertification control when they grow up. Fan Liang said. The reporter saw that under the photovoltaic panels, the snow has not completely melted on the sandy ground, and the rows and rows of Saxony seedlings are tenaciously welcoming the arrival of spring in the cold spring season.
Ulan Bu and the desert are one of the most desertified areas in China, of which 42690,000 acres are distributed in Dengkou County, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia, accounting for about 77 of the total land area of the county.
Desert areas are short of water and sandy winds, making it difficult for many plants to survive. To this end, Dengkou County has been actively exploring plants suitable for photovoltaic sand control. "We have cooperated with the Desert Forestry Experimental Center of the Chinese Academy of Forestry to carry out screening work for many years. Han Yinglian, deputy director of the Dengkou County Sand Prevention and Control Bureau, said that since 2018, some photovoltaic sand control projects have tried to plant honeysuckle under the board, but because the plant has relatively large water requirements, it is difficult to resist the low temperature in winter, and the survival rate has not been high, so it has no choice but to give up.
The reporter learned that in recent years, Dengkou County has explored planting plants such as Haloxylon and Quinoa with sand fixation effect and suitable for the desert ecological environment under photovoltaic panels. After planting, it was found that the growth of the plants was better. Moreover, after 3 years of planting experiments, Quinoa has also been successfully inoculated with "desert ginseng" Cistanche, with a planting benefit of about 6,000 yuan per mu, and has broad development prospects.
At present, we have begun to guide photovoltaic sand control enterprises to plant sand-fixing plants such as Saxony and Quinoa, and the planting area of these sand control plants will be further expanded in the future. Han Yinglian said.
Inner Mongolia Dengkou County Ulan Buhe Desert Photovoltaic Desert Control Base (Photo: Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yunping).
In the practice of photovoltaic desertification control, we have also continued to explore and summed up a lot of experience. Fan Liang pointed to a photovoltaic panel and said: "In the arrangement of photovoltaic modules, we raise the photovoltaic array and increase the spacing of the array, and the spacing of the photovoltaic panels can reach 12 meters, leaving sufficient space for the growth of sand control plants, and using photovoltaic modules to shade the vegetation and reduce evaporation." At the same time, the growth of vegetation also inhibits dust and reduces the impact on power generation, achieving a win-win situation of economic and ecological benefits. ”
Han Yinglian introduced that at present, Dengkou County has built an installed photovoltaic capacity of 1.62 million kilowatts, with an area of nearly 460,000 acres, complete the planting of Shuttle shuttle, four-winged quinoa, caragana and other ecological management between photovoltaic panels810,000 acres.
Dengkou County is exploring the formation of a four-in-one circular industry development model of 'on-board power generation, under-board planting, sand control and soil reform, and rural revitalization', and green energy is becoming a strong engine for high-quality development. Liu Xiangyang, secretary of the county party committee of Dengkou County, said.