Making the news this week is China’s announcement that there’s plans to turn it’s Qaidam Basin into a 1-gigawatt solar power photovoltaic farm. The China Technology Development Group Corp. and Qinghai New Energy Co. signed an agreement with local Chinese officials over the weekend to begin work on a massive plant that would use crystalline silicon and thin-film solar cells, research firm JLM Pacific Epoch reports.
1GW of solar power means that’s enough energy enough to light 20 million of your 50 watt lightbulbs at any given moment. Earlier this year PG&E announced its own plans to build an 800 megawatt facility in California’s San Luis Obispo County. And Germany’s PV project by Intersolar in Germany, now more than half complete, is set to generate 40 megawatts. While it’s still not 100% sure that this project will go through, it sets a stunning precedence for renewable energy in China.
