BBC News reports:

China has created a desert that no longer just reflects the Sun. It captures it.

Aluminium soaks up the rays on the golden dunes of Inner Mongolia, transforming one of the harshest landscapes into one of the world’s largest solar farms.

Xin Guiyi, who has lived here all his life, seems to welcome the change.

“It used to be so dry and the desert was getting bigger,” he explains, as he mixes feed for his small flock of sheep after bringing them in from the cold.

For decades, Xin and thousands of other helpless farmers in these parts watched their grazing lands shrink.

Vegetation thinned, topsoil blew away and the land lost its life because of overgrazing and rising temperatures.

The solar panels, scientists find, act as shade and windbreaks to protect the grass and restore the land. It doesn’t stop the desert but there is modest impact – and that gives Xin hope.

“Wind and solar energy are abundant in Inner Mongolia. We can contribute to our country.”

That sentiment may not be shared everywhere but Beijing’s determination to turn China into a renewables superpower is now evident across its vast landscapes. [Continue reading…]