Recently, with the approval of the State Council, the State Forestry and Grass Administration, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Energy Administration jointly issued the Photovoltaic Sand Control Plan for the Gobi Desert Area in the Three North Desert (2025-2030) . It is planned that by 2030, 253 million kilowatts of photovoltaic installed capacity will be added and 10.1 million mu of desertified land will be harnessed.
Photovoltaic sand control is to promote the integration of sand control and photovoltaic construction on the premise of protecting the ecology, and to support high-quality development with high-level protection. The Gobi desert area of Sanbei Desert is rich in land resources. Among them, the area of eight deserts and four sandy lands is 1.015 billion mu, and the area of Gobi (including gravel land) is 718 million mu. Most of the areas are the most abundant or very abundant areas of solar energy resources, and there is great potential for the construction of photovoltaic power stations . However, the desert Gobi desert area is characterized by arid climate, lack of water resources, sparse vegetation, easy wind erosion of soil, easy ecological damage and difficult restoration. During the construction of photovoltaic power station, it will inevitably disturb the fragile ecosystem, destroy vegetation and soil crust. If it is not repaired scientifically, it will easily cause local wind erosion or wind accumulation, aggravate the wind and sand hazards, directly affect the photoelectric conversion efficiency and working hours, and cause air pollution, affecting people's production and life.
According to the general idea of ecological priority, green development and coordinated promotion, the Plan takes full account of climate characteristics and suitable areas, takes wind and solar resources as the basis, and takes regional power grids, transmission channels and regulated power sources as the guarantee, and defines three major climate zones and five key development areas. Guided by the experimental project, we will promote the construction of desertification control and wind and photovoltaic integration projects, and build a photovoltaic sand control Great Wall combining "point, line and surface" from central Inner Mongolia in the east to Xinjiang in the west. In the aspects of site selection, design, construction, operation and maintenance of photovoltaic sand control, we should promote the integration and development of sand control and photovoltaic construction. Scientific analysis of the favorable and adverse effects of photovoltaic sand control, targeted measures to protect the ecological environment, to minimize the adverse effects of planning implementation on the ecological environment. Establish and improve the guarantee mechanism for planning and implementation, strengthen organizational leadership, innovate policies and technological models, strengthen supervision and supervision, create a good atmosphere, and steadily promote the high-quality development of photovoltaic sand control.
At present, there are still some problems and difficulties in promoting photovoltaic desertification control, including inadequate understanding of the relationship between photovoltaic and desertification control in a few places, unscientific concept of photovoltaic desertification control, insufficient local absorptive capacity, weak grid support and access capacity; A small number of enterprises pay attention to the construction of power stations, and the scientific development of desertification prevention and control is not considered enough, and an effective integrated development model has not yet been formed; the impact of photovoltaic power stations on the ecological environment needs long-term systematic observation and scientific assessment; the standard system of photovoltaic desertification control needs to be improved.
In order to fulfill the objectives and tasks of the Plan, the three departments issued a circular requesting the people's governments and Sinkiang Production and Construction Corps of the relevant provinces (districts) to firmly establish a systematic concept and, in accordance with the requirements of ecological priority, sand control as the main task, step-by-step promotion, first sparse and then dense, to work out a plan for the construction of desertification control and wind power and photovoltaic integration projects in light of the actual situation. Coordinate the construction of local consumption and photovoltaic sand control projects. Guided by the experimental project, we should innovate the policy mechanism, guide energy enterprises to scientifically formulate the implementation plan of photovoltaic sand control projects, give full play to the advantages of enterprises in capital, technology and talents, support farmers and herdsmen and collective economic organizations in rural and pastoral areas to participate in photovoltaic sand control, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors.