Photo: CGTN
The world’s largest solar power plant, located in the northwestern desert of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, is now connected to China’s power grid.
The 5-gigawatt (GW), 200,000-acre solar farm is located on the outskirts of Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The plant began operations on Monday, according to the state-owned assets regulator’s website, citing China Power Construction Corp.
The solar power plant will produce approximately 6.09 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year. Assuming that EVs consume approximately 3,000 kWh per year, 6.09 billion kWh is enough to power 2.03 million EVs per year.
The world’s largest solar farm, in Xinjiang, is part of China’s Megabase Project, which plans to install 455 GW of wind and solar power in sparsely populated, resource-rich areas and send the electricity it generates to major urban centers, including on China’s east coast.
China currently boasts three of the world’s largest solar power plants by generating capacity. The Ningxia Tengeli Solar Power Plant and Golmud Wudumei Solar Power Plant, each with a generating capacity of 3 MW, are already operational.
Xinjiang is a crucial, and sometimes controversial, player in the global solar industry, not only housing huge solar and wind farms but also a production base for polysilicon, a vital raw material used to make solar panels.
But reports and allegations about the treatment of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the region have prompted calls for greater transparency and ethical considerations in the supply chain.
read more: US to reinstate tariffs on Chinese solar panels
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