Agrivoltaics practice in Sihong recognized as national role model

2022-02-23 17:45:00

The agrivoltaics practice in Sihong County of Suqian City that combines the better installation of solar panels and economical use of land has been recognized as a national role model by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The ministry recently released six more best technologies and 17 ways of economical use of land collected from the country, the third batch of such recommendation, including the agrivoltaics operation in Sihong, also the only entry from Jiangsu Province.

Sihong’s practice includes efforts to minimize the impact of solar panels placed on the same land where crops are grown by using high stands or deep burying, according to Zhou Ting, head of the county’s Department of Natural Resources and Planning. The barren land has also been actively developed for the initiative in the model of integrating agriculture, animal husbandry, fish farm and solar power.

Despite the poor soil quality and complex terrain, the Xi’nangang area in Sihong has taken advantage of its natural resources including the lakes, rivers and mudflats to pursue eco-friendly development path in recent years. Local authorities plan to invest 7.5 billion yuan for solar power stations with the total installed capacity of 1000 MWh.

After the completion, the project is estimated to generate 1.4 billion kWh of electricity and creates the tax revenue of more than 100 million yuan per year. The annual revenue from fish farming and tourism will reach 95 million yuan and 40 million yuan respectively. Meanwhile, the project will save the use of 520,000 tonnes of coal per year and cut carbon emissions by 1.28 million tonnes.

In 2019, the county’s agrivoltaics practice was promoted across the province. This latest recognition by the Ministry of Natural Resources will support other regions to explore photovoltaic power programs innovatively, promote the economical use of land and advance the rural vitalization strategy too.