China has come up with a cute idea to attract more and more people towards the importance of clean energy. The idea is to build massive solar farms which are placed and designed in such a way that it resembles the shape of a panda. And who doesn’t love those adorable black and white furballs?
The panda-shaped solar plant is the brainchild of an 18-year-old Hong Kong teenager Ada Li Yan-tung. She presented the ‘billion-dollar idea’ at a United Nations youth climate conference in 2015. In 2016, she teamed up with United Nations Development Program and solar mega-developer Panda Green Energy Group.
A year later in mid-2017, a 248-acre solar farm was built in Datong, China. It is shaped like two giant pandas smiling when seen from above. It’s a 100-megawatt farm and cost around $52 million capable for providing power for more than 10,000 homes in a year.
The second panda solar farm was completed in October 2017 in Guigang, Guangxi. The installed capacity of this farm is 60 MW and can provide for 6000 homes per year.
Although it doesn’t enhance the production capacity of the farm, it sure succeeds in its aim to create a good buzz among youth as well as adults. The group intends to build 98 more similar panda farms.
China’s Solar Chart
China is fully into solar business and the business is booming. The Asian tech giant is already the largest investor in renewable energy with a staggering investment of $126.6 billion for clean energy. It is a 30% increase compared to the previous year.
In order to cut down on carbon emissions, China is moving away from its conventional primary source of power- coal. The replacement is the eco-friendly solar power. China aims to generate 110 GW of solar energy annually, capable of powering more than 30 million homes.
Chinese cities are the worst pollution hit cities of the world. The smog results in the deaths of millions of people. The coal is the primary reason for the pollution causing 366,000 premature deaths in 2013.
In 2017, Anhui Province constructed a floating solar farm on the top of an abandoned coal mine. It’s high time China declares a war on pollution.