The quest for renewable, cheap, energy is ongoing and countries, especially those that are overpopulated and need more resources to keep their populations well served are being proactive in looking for solutions to keep up their demand and improve their supply. China is a perfect example of this, and the Asian giant has found a seemingly obvious but unexplored solution that could fix more than just problem at once, installing solar panels in desert areas.
The solution is not a new one, to use terrain that is not apt for any other use to produce energy. Initiatives like that have been going on for a few years now in the US and other countries, but admittedly not at this scale and not with this result. The aim of Chinese officials was not just to improve energy collection, but to also improve the ecosystem of the area they were installed in.
Solar panels installed in the desert in China, a brilliant step in production and conservation
The idea seemingly started after a study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. In it, a group of scientists from Xi’an University of Technology discovered that installing large solar parks in desert areas has positive effects on the microclimate, as well as on soil and vegetation properties. To better analyze the environment, the scientists used the Driving Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model, which measures the ecological and environmental effects of an installation, a method strongly recommended by the European Environment Agency.
In total, 57 indicators were analyzed and the entropy method was applied to rate each one, with greater importance given to those with less variability. The entire study focused on the Qinghai Gonghe photovoltaic park, a facility located in the Tarlatan Desert. Data from the study indicates that the area within the solar park received a score of 0.4393, classified as “general” by the model, while the transition and exterior zones were rated as “poor,” with scores of 0.2858 and 0.2802, respectively.
The results were also accompanied by an even better discovery made by the scientists, because these panels covered so much ground and absorbed so much energy form the sun, the terrain under them became a lot more conducive to the survival off plants, improving the microclimate of the areas below them. And once the vegetation came in, other expected things started happening (as they have with other reforestation efforts in the past), air pressure started to come down, humidity in the air started to rise and temperatures dropped a little bit, all signs that the area was now more compatible with plant life.
The results of the study were overwhelmingly positive, and researchers were not shy in showing how much impact this new ecosystem had in creating more plant life “Recent research has demonstrated the positive impact of photovoltaic power stations on soil evaporation and water content. The construction of these power stations has led to a reduction in soil evaporation, while the cleaning of photovoltaic panels has increased the water content of the soil located under the panels”
While it is a bit like cheating to give the ecosystem water to get it kickstarted, this water has a double purpose, to clean the panels and to sustain life. Eventually, if the climate in the area changes enough, there might be enough rain that cleaning the panels as often and with that much water is not necessary and the climate will become self-sustaining.
But we are not there yet, and a lot more studies need to be performed in these kind of desert installations to ensure that the results are not just a one off and that install panels in the desert is as good an environmental idea as it is energy wise.