China's new faith in solar energy projects is hailed by environmentalists as a milestone

Huge investment plan aims to make country a world leader in renewables

Jonathan Wattas in Wuwei
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 May 2009 22.48 BST

Deep in the deserts of Gansu province, in an area declared off-limits by Chinese state security, is a clean, hi-tech vision of the country's energy future.
Set among the pale yellow dunes are seven banks of dark blue photovoltaic panels that stretch the length of a running track.
Together they comprise the biggest desert solar power plant in China and the largest test case of a technology that is about to get a massive boost from the central government.
The national energy bureau has finalised a solar energy promotion plan that aims to make China a leading global harvester of the world's most abundant energy source.
In the coming weeks, it is expected to announce a package of hundreds of billions of yuan of incentives from the government's 4tr yuan stimulus fund. Environmentalists are already describing the solar stimulus plan as a milestone for renewable energy.
While China's dependency on coal is unlikely to change for decades, senior scientists have told the Guardian that solar is the key to the long-term energy security of a country that has many of the world's biggest deserts.
"Solar is most important for the future of China," said Professor Can Li, head of the recently established National Laboratory for Clean Energy. "We have a lot of land that is not suitable for farming. Gansu and Xinjiang are all desert. We estimate that if we covered a third-to-half of the area in solar cells and caught only a tenth of the energy, then we would be able to meet the current energy requirements of the whole country."
The closest this vision has come to being realised is the solar farm completed last year outside Wuwei city in Gansu, behind a zoo and breeding centre for endangered animals.
Although the company that runs the plant gave the Guardian permission to visit, the staff at the centre said state security forbade entry to unaccompanied foreign journalists.
We were allowed, however, to visit the zoo. At the back, between dozing Bactrian camels and half a dozen Przewalski's horses, the solar panels were visible along with advanced wind-lens turbines that are three times more efficient than conventional ones.
Huatang, a subsidiary of one of China's five biggest utilities, has invested 28m yuan in the project, along with a 12m yuan research grant from the government. Wuwei's municipal government provided free land.
"For us, this is just the beginning phase for solar power," said Lu Ning, one of the project managers at the company's headquarters in Lanzhou, the provincial capital. "This is [just] a sample to show that we have entered the market."
The Wuwei facility generates 500 kilowatt hours of electricity. It is not the biggest solar plant in China, but it is the first on such a scale to be tested in desert conditions and linked to the grid.
Dust and fierce winds cover and scratch the panels, reducing efficiency by between 5% and 15%, but the scientists involved in the project say it remains a success.
Gansu has recently accepted bids to build a far bigger solar PV plant that has been approved at Dunhuang. With a 10 megawatts capacity, it will be one of the biggest in the world, but not for long.
Reports of new solar plants appear with increasing frequency in the domestic media. In the past year, Gansu, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia have all declared their intention to build solar power stations of 20MW or more. Their success will depend largely on the amount of government support they get.
Solar electricity generation costs are about 10 times higher than for coal. But the price is falling fast. Wuwei generates electricity for 3 yuan a kilowatt, more than 20 times cheaper than expected thanks to a sharp fall in the cost of photo­voltaic cells. When Dunhuang is completed, experts say the price could fall to less than 1 yuan. Between 2015 and 2020, solar energy prices could reach grid parity with coal-fired power.
Renewable energy production is surging forward in China under a government plan to use clean sources for 15% of the country's energy by 2020. Wind power has benefited most, doubling every year since 2004. In the area of solar water heaters, China has become a world leader.
Until now, lack of government support and the high price of the silicon-based cells has meant photovoltaic energy for the grid has lagged behind. Although Suntech and other major firms help China to manufacture more panels than any other country, more than 95% of their products are exported.
This is about to change dramatically. Earlier this year, Jiangsu province – the home of Suntech – announced 1bn yuan of incentives aimed at building up solar energy generation capacity to 260MW by 2011. This is astonishingly ambitious given the target for the entire nation next year is 300MW.
It is just the start. According to Can, about 10 local governments in China have submitted plants for solar energy plants in the expectation of the central government stepping in.
Environmentalists say the infusion of extra funds will help to build up the domestic market.
But Can cautions against over-expectations. While the sun's power will be tapped like never before, he said it will be a long time before the deserts of Gansu are covered in photovoltaic cells.