The extra cost of solar power can sometimes be more acceptable in rural applications than in urban areas because traditional sources of power also cost more to deploy in rural areas.  Solar photovoltaic technology places the energy source adjacent to where it is needed, minimizing the need for transmission and distribution lines which are particularly expensive and cost-inefficient to build out to remote locations.

The cost of solar PV also stays relatively constant at varying scales, unlike thermal power plants which are only cost-effective above a certain size.  This means that, on a per kilowatt hour basis, a household photovoltaic system doesn’t cost much more to install and operate than a utility-sized system.  Also, photovoltaic systems are self-contained, generally needing no inputs and generating no waste, meaning that fuel transportation costs are avoided.

Below are a few solar photovoltaic applications I’ve seen in rural and semi-rural China.  Unfortunately, most are just boring street lighting, but they do illustrate China’s push to widely deploy solar photovoltaic technology.

This one shows a road winding up a mountain northwest of Beijing called Feng huang ling (凤凰岭).

How many solar-powered streetlamps can you find?  Click on the picture and then click on the image again to see a full-size version.   I count…

Nineteen!  Let me know if you see any others.

This one, on the footpath up Fenghuang ling, has seen better days:

I found this one at the village of Xizhazi (西栅子), a village north of Beijing near the beautiful Jiankou Great Wall (箭扣长城).

We couldn’t figure out what this one was powering at Tanzhe temple, west of Beijing (潭柘寺).

..and finally, my favorite.  I took this picture in 2006 near Langmusi in Gansu province (甘肃省郎木寺乡), over a thousand miles from Beijing.   This Tibetan family’s tent was the only one within sight.