26. Case 22: Tengger Desert Solar Park China

Tengger Desert solar park is one of the world’s largest solar park in the world with solar generation capacity of 1.5 GW. The park covers over 43 square kilometers. It is situated in Zhongwei which is located in China’s northwestern Ningxia province. With the establishment of Tengger Desert solar park, China’s installed capacity rose over 176 GW. China is the global leader in terms of installed capacity with 32% of the global capacity. Chinese power sector faces challenges like transmission bottlenecks, oversupply and problems associated with electric grids. China is the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panel technology. The International Energy Agency statistics suggest that more than 60% of the world’s solar panels are made in China. Tengger Desert Solar Park was established by the China National grid and Zhongwei Power Supply Co. The park supplies power to over 600,000 homes. The development work started in the year 2012 and comprised 45 interconnected grid project. The project was commissioned progressively over the 2011–2017 period. The photovoltaic industrial park is divided into the desert in Zhongwei city, photovoltaic, PV manufacturing industry, agricultural greenhouse area and sightseeing for planning area. The entire project had a total investment of 20 billion yuan.