Breaking the limitations of traditional photovoltaics and benefiting impoverished farmers

The Yemiao Village Photovoltaic Farm in Lingbi County, Anhui Province is a national

professional "poverty-stricken Village Photovoltaic Farm Package County Poverty

Alleviation" project. Since its grid connection on July 19th, it has generated approximately 830000 kilowatt hours of electricity. It is expected that the annual electricity bill can achieve a net income of 200000 yuan, and each impoverished household can receive over 3000 yuan. With the addition of the money for "re employment" to work on the farm, each impoverished household in Yemiao Village of the photovoltaic farm can increase their income by about 10000 yuan per year.

Breaking the limitations of traditional agricultural and solar complementary planting

Two photovoltaic panels are arranged up and down, paired with brackets of 50-60

centimeters, forming a typical feature of the current agricultural photovoltaic

complementary station. Due to being close to the ground, only some shade loving crops

can be planted under the tilted photovoltaic panels, which greatly limits agricultural

production. The agricultural photovoltaic complementary power station has not

achieved true "agricultural photovoltaic complementary", therefore the current national

policy explicitly prohibits photovoltaic projects from occupying basic farmland in any way.

Originally, more than 16 megawatts of agricultural and photovoltaic complementary

projects had been built in the county, but the land below was basically abandoned,

with only a few chickens raised. The space between photovoltaic panels was narrow,

and there was insufficient light, making it very difficult for people to engage in

agricultural work. "Liu Bofu, Secretary of Lingbi County Party Committee, told reporters

that the county party committee and government have been thinking about better

photovoltaic models.

Last year, at the third "10.17 Poverty Alleviation Day Forum" organized by the State

Council Poverty Alleviation Office, representatives from Lingbi County saw the

"Intelligent Photovoltaic+Technological Agriculture" promoted by Zhongli Group,

which was inspired, So it was proposed to establish a model of "poverty alleviation

through photovoltaic farms in poverty-stricken villages and counties", led and funded

by the county government, with technology provided by enterprises. Through the

establishment of photovoltaic farms, poverty alleviation in photovoltaic counties can

be achieved. The project property rights belong to the collective ownership of poverty-

stricken village farmers, and all the electricity generated is used for photovoltaic poverty

alleviation.

On November 30, 2016, the National Professional Photovoltaic Farm Baoxian Poverty

Alleviation Project settled in Lingbi. The photovoltaic power station built in the

photovoltaic farm model hardly affects normal agricultural planting, and is very different

from traditional agricultural photovoltaic complementary power stations.

When the reporter came to this photovoltaic farm built on a barren mountain land,

he only saw that the photovoltaic module was as high as 4 meters from the ground,

and the photovoltaic support piles had a span of 10 meters. The photovoltaic panels

were like a greenhouse built above the head, without any sense of oppression. Each row

of components is arranged as a single board with an angle of 278 degrees, and there is

enough space between the rows to transmit light. With the orbit of the sun, the daily

illumination of crops can reach over 75%, "Liu Bofu said. And the new photovoltaic

module installation mode sets all roads, canals, and equipment rooms under the

photovoltaic system. Originally, a 100 megawatt photovoltaic power plant would need

to cover an area of over 3000 acres, but now it only needs to cover an area of less than

2000 acres, saving over 40% of the land.

In the land area of a photovoltaic farm covering an area of 43 acres, there are eggplants,

chili peppers, cucumbers, purple potatoes, etc. planted in the open air, and fruits and

traditional Chinese medicine such as strawberries, drunken butterflies, etc. planted in

the greenhouse. A total of more than ten crops are cultivated by the Aerospace series

seeds cultivated by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, which are planted in

an organized manner and have high economic value. Cucumbers, which happened to be

in the mature season, have already been placed on the shelves of major supermarkets

such as Century Hualian in Lingbi County. The price of 5 yuan per kilogram is much

higher than the local cucumber price, but it has attracted many customers to queue up

to buy and quickly sold out.

A 45 acre water area is separated by a rural road from the crop planting area. The waste

pond formed by the accumulated water during the construction of the highway has now

been built with high photovoltaic modules, raising edible fish and white geese, forming

a natural ecological chain.

The land used by the photoelectric farm was originally barren land left behind by the

cultivation of barren mountains, with high soil viscosity and poor drainage, making it

impossible to plant any crops. Unexpectedly, the photoelectric station came and not

only generated electricity, but also saved the wasteland. "Ye Zhenshan, the director of

the Yemiao Village Committee, told reporters that the local landlord wanted to plant

wheat, corn, and soybeans, such" high-end "vegetables and fruits that farmers had never

seen before. Working on the farm not only earns money, but also learns skills, making

the villagers very happy.