250 Acre Solar Farm That Looks Like A Panda Built In China
- Thomas Nelson
- December 13, 2020
- News
- 0 Comments
Giant pandas are a species of bear, part of the Ursidae family, native to central China. The species is considered vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, with only 1,864 living in their native habitat, plus another 600 living in captivity. And in 2017, China became home to a 250 acre panda power plant.
Pandas are culturally significant in China, with some considering them to be a symbol of peace and friendship. This was at least part of the inspiration for a solar power plant near Datong, China. The China Merchants New Energy Group decided to get creative with this solar farm, building it to look like a giant, smiling panda. They hope that this power plant will raise awareness among young people in China about the importance of green energy.
The Panda Power Plant
According to the company, the power plant will produce approximately 3.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity over the course of 25 years and eliminate around one million tons of coal that would otherwise be used to produce electricity for an increasingly energy-hungry China.
The Panda Power Plant will also reduce carbon emissions by 2.74 million tons.
Benefits of solar power
Solar power has advantages and disadvantages. Solar power is considered a renewable energy source that can be harvested anywhere in the world, even locations which are consistently cloudy.
Solar power can be implemented on a larger scale or a smaller scale. It’s one of the few types of energy that can be easily distributed throughout the grid – even a small home can host a solar panel on its roof to remove it from the grid or feed extra clean energy back into the grid.
There are also disadvantages to solar energy. Its effectiveness can be reduced by the weather, they don’t produce energy at night, they can be cost prohibitive for average people who might be interested in installing their own solar panels, and the cost of storing solar energy for later use is rather high.
And as can be seen in the above photo of the Panda Power Plant, large solar arrays can take up a great deal of space. The more solar power you want, the more space it will take up.
Regardless, reducing the amount of power produced by coal is a positive step for the environment.
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