China News Service, Urumqi, September 21 (Shi Yujiang) On the Gobi Desert at the southern edge of the Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang, continuous blue photovoltaic panels are spread out. Under the photovoltaic panels, Chinese herbal medicine grows vigorously.
A new agricultural and photovoltaic complementary model of "on-board photovoltaic power generation, under-board planting of medicinal materials, and global ecological restoration" is being implemented here, transforming the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps' former Gobi desert into a composite industrial base integrating clean energy production, Chinese herbal medicine planting, and desert ecological protection.
"Under-ban economy" helps rural revitalization
Recently, I walked into the photovoltaic power generation base of the 134th Regiment of Shihezi City, the 8th Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on the edge of the desert. Green waves of mugwort appeared under the photovoltaic panels. The fragrance of mugwort was fragrant. Wu Jianlong, the head of the Xinwoyuan Traditional Chinese Medicine Cooperative, was driving an agricultural machine to harvest the mugwort.
"The cooperative planted 108 acres of mugwort in the photovoltaic power generation base in early 2024. It is currently harvesting the second crop, and it can harvest three crops a year." Wu Jianlong calculated the economic accounts for reporters: mugwort is drought-resistant and barren, and the yield of dry goods per mu can reach 1.2 to 1.5 tons. Selling only raw materials, the net profit from one acre of land is 1,200 to 1,500 yuan, so there is no need to worry about sales.
After the photovoltaic panels are laid, due to the large temperature difference between morning and evening in the local area, water vapor will continue to condense on the panels and form water droplets. In addition, the photovoltaic base adopts drip irrigation, water and fertilizer integration technology, which greatly saves water resources. Planting mugwort can save about 400 cubic meters of water per year.
Wu Jianlong said that thanks to the "warming" effect of photovoltaic panels, the maturity cycle of mugwort here is shortened by half a month than normal, and the output has been significantly increased. "The harvested raw materials are processed into moxa sticks, moxa velvet, traditional Chinese medicine pieces and other products, which are used in medicine, health care products and other fields."
The 134th Group guides the public to use idle land resources under photovoltaic panels to develop special Chinese medicinal materials such as skullcap, mugwort, isatis root, aster, salvia, peony and other special Chinese medicinal materials. The current planting area reaches 7,500 acres and is sold all over the country.
A piece of desert, triple value
For a long time, Xinjiang's Gobi has been characterized by a lot of sandy land, strong winds, high evaporation, and a fragile ecological environment. After the implementation of large-scale photovoltaic power stations, the local area is exploring ways to balance industrial development and ecological protection while generating clean power.
After verification, the project raised the photovoltaic supports to reserve growth space for crops, and used the natural advantages of photovoltaic panels to reduce evaporation and weaken wind and sand. Chinese herbal medicine varieties such as mugwort, which are drought-resistant, desertification-resistant, and highly adaptable, were selected, and equipped with a high-efficiency water-saving drip irrigation system. Chinese herbal medicine planting was developed in the gaps between photovoltaic panels, allowing a piece of land to realize multiple values.
The 134th Regiment Photovoltaic Base is part of the 1 million kilowatt photovoltaic base project of China Xinjiang Electric Power Group, the first "digital smart photovoltaic" project of the Xinjiang Corps. It has been connected to the grid at full capacity in December 2023 and delivers about 1.5 billion kilowatt hours of green power annually, which is equivalent to saving 500,000 tons of standard coal.
This agricultural photovoltaic complementary model deeply binds new energy, Chinese herbal medicine industry, and ecological restoration: photovoltaic power generation brings stable basic income; Chinese herbal medicine planting under the board revitalizes the land and creates agricultural output value; herbaceous vegetation fixes sand and protects soil, which in turn protects photovoltaic equipment from being buried by wind and sand, reduces power station operation and maintenance costs, and forms a virtuous cycle.
In recent years, based on the desert resource endowment of Xinjiang, various divisions and cities of the Xinjiang Corps have promoted the "photovoltaic + ecological + characteristic industry" development model according to local conditions, deployed "medicine-light complementation", "forest-light complementation" and "pasture-light complementation" projects in multiple locations, and piloted planting of apocynum, seabuckthorn, wolfberry, mugwort and other desert economic crops in multiple regiment fields, integrating idle desert land into a large-scale ecological industry base.
From single photovoltaic power generation to deep integration of new energy, ecological management, and characteristic agriculture, the Xinjiang Corps has continuously optimized under-the-board planting categories and technology models through small-scale introduction, multi-site testing, and gradual promotion, improved the supporting industrial chain, and continued to promote the efficient and compound utilization of desert resources.
