Photovoltaic industry leads the new decade of development of western “green economy”

13 kilometers outside the city of Dunhuang, in the vast Gobi desert, the sun in September hit tens of thousands of solar panels, shining. This is China's first photovoltaic grid-connected power concession project that has just been fully completed. It is bounded by roads and is developed by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Development Corporation and SDIC Huajing Power Holdings.

This historical and cultural city, famous for its Mogao Grottoes built in 366 AD, is ambitious to become a modern photoelectric city in the desert. It is building a large-scale modern industry - solar photovoltaic power generation.

“By 2012, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation will reach 300,000 kilowatts, and the installed capacity of solar thermal power generation will reach 50,000 kilowatts; by 2025, it will fully realize the goal of 10 million kilowatt-class photovoltaic grid-connected power generation bases and the establishment of the Dato Optoelectronics City,” said the Communist Party of China's Dunhuang City Committee. Secretary Sun Yulong said.

According to the next round of Western Development Plan, Dunhuang will be an important part of China's new energy map. The plan proposes that in the next 10 years, the western region will build an important energy base, a deep processing base for resources, a manufacturing base for equipment and a strategic emerging industrial base in China. This year, the Western Development Project has started 23 new key projects, and new energy projects will be listed for the first time.

After the reform and opening up, the southeastern coast of China achieved economic growth under the traction of the manufacturing industry by virtue of geographical and labor cost advantages. The Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta have become "world factories."

However, the Foxconn jumping event in the Pearl River Delta and the series of strikes by Japanese auto parts factories in the Pearl River Delta this year have caused profound reflections. The trend of "inward migration" of manufacturing industries from the coastal areas to the central and western regions has emerged.

“The west is a severely water-scarce region in China, but it is not suitable for a large number of population-intensive living as a whole, and it is not suitable for a large number of people to form economies of scale in the industry,” said Yang Mu, a senior researcher at the National Institute of East Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, China. The western region basically follows the old road of comprehensive industrial development. "If you continue to go on in the future, you will encounter more and more difficulties."

Zhuang Jian, a senior economist at the China Development Office of the Asian Development Bank, pointed out in recent days that the western region of China cannot simply replicate the model of industrialization in the eastern region and should avoid the extensive development path. In particular, it should avoid "pollution first and then governance" in the industrialization process in developed countries and regions. The old road.

An Jianglin, a researcher at the Gansu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said that in the face of increasingly severe resource and environmental pressures, even western regions where traditional energy sources are relatively abundant will need to actively seek for follow-on energy, change production methods, and achieve sustainable development.

Analysts believe that if we can find a new set of economic development models in the western region in the next decade, achieving “clean development, scientific development, and economic development” will have important implications for the development of China and even the world.

“The conditions for the development of photovoltaic industry here are very good,” said Song Rongwu, deputy manager of SDIC Dunhuang Photovoltaic Power Generation Co., Ltd., Dunhuang has 3257 hours of sunshine hours and 1,754 kWh of annual radiation per square meter, which is abundant in solar energy in China. A class of areas.

In addition to "winning light," Jiuquan City, where Dunhuang is located, has begun to "fight the wind."

Jiuquan is building China's first 10 million kilowatt-class wind power base. As of the end of last year, the total installed capacity of Jiuquan wind power reached 2.2 million kilowatts. On the deserted Gobi Desert, at least 1,450 windmills have been erected, and at least 3,500 will be built by the end of this year.

According to the plan, we will achieve a period of 5.16 million kilowatts of installed capacity at the end of this year. "It is expected that by September 20, this goal will be achieved and the first phase of the construction of the first 10,000-kilowatt wind power base in China will be completed." Li Jianhua, secretary of the Jiuquan Municipal CPC Committee, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters.