Tag: rural development

Solar (and wind) power in rural China – Danba, Sichuan

November 3, 2010 / / 7 Comments

I visited Sichuan recently and was fortunate enough to spend a few days in a mountainous Tibetan region called Danba (丹巴), aka the Valley of Beauties (美人谷）.  Good looking people of both sexes did appear at an unusual rate in this area.  I think it has something to do with the clean water, clean air, abundant food resources, and generally positive outlook on life enjoyed by these people.  But that’s just a gut feeling.  I’m sure there are scientific and historical explanations.

I saw several different types of solar and wind power usage in Danba.  The county seat, a typical (though relatively clean), uninteresting, modern little town with cars and paved roads, had some interesting light posts:

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Powering rural China with the sun

September 3, 2010 / / 0 Comments


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…

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