China News Service, Datong, November 3 (Hu Jian, Ding Hongwei, Qiao Jin) In late autumn, standing on a slope beam in Polubao Township, Xinrong District, Datong, Shanxi Province, you can see dark blue photovoltaic panels spreading along the mountain, like a silent "blue ocean." The wind passes between the panels, and green electricity rushes in all directions along the power grid. This is an ordinary day at Yuelong Photovoltaic Power Station in Xinrong District, and it is also the most intuitive footnote of the district’s industrial transformation.
"In the past, we relied on mining coal, but now we rely on sunshine, and the industry is booming." Chen Qiang, the director of Yuelong Photovoltaic Power Station in Xinrong District, said a word that expresses the changes in this land.
Yuelong Photovoltaic Power Station is affiliated to Shanxi Shentou Power Generation, with an actual installed capacity of 656.53 MW. More than 1.21 million LONGi monocrystalline and double-glass modules can produce about 1 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity every year, which can meet the annual electricity needs of 400,000 households. In 2025, the power generation capacity of the power station will exceed 1.017 billion kilowatt hours, and the utilization hours will reach 1550.64 hours. It was rated as a 4A-level power station in North China in the national solar photovoltaic power station benchmarking. Since being connected to the grid in 2021, the power station has reduced cumulative carbon dioxide emissions by 62,719 tons, which is equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by approximately 2.85 million trees in a year.
About two kilometers away from the Yuelong Photovoltaic Power Station in a straight line is the Zhongxin Electrician Datong Herong New Energy Storage Power Station. Since the power station was put into operation in October 2023, it has charged approximately 183 million kilowatt hours and discharged approximately 150 million kilowatt hours, leaving the excess sunlight at noon until the evening peak to light up thousands of lights. At the same time, it also acts as a "shock absorber" for the power grid to maintain stable power supply during extreme weather such as gusts.
Wang Yuchen, director of the Datong Herong New Energy Storage Power Station of Zhongxin Electric Power Union, pointed to the central control screen and said: "We can achieve millisecond-level response to changes in the grid frequency." As of the end of June this year, the power station has completed a primary frequency regulation mileage of approximately 6.2 million megawatts and a secondary frequency regulation mileage of approximately 1.19 million megawatts. This is equivalent to millions of fine-tunings for the Shanxi power grid, turning green power into a dispatchable and tradable commodity, and paving the way for the integration of "source, grid, load and storage" in Xinrong District.
In recent years, Xinrong District has abandoned the old path of "one coal dominates" and built a "1+2+N" characteristic industrial system, focusing on new energy and new materials. At present, the region's wind and solar installed capacity reaches 1.385 million kilowatts, and the energy storage scale is 750,000 kilowatts. When all projects under construction are put into operation, the total installed green power capacity will exceed 3.6 million kilowatts, and the annual power generation can reach 7 billion kilowatt hours. At the same time, the new energy industry chain continues to extend, LONGi photovoltaic modules and Ruihua new energy equipment have been launched one after another, the second and third phases of Zhongxin Electricity are being stepped up, and Zoomlion's zero-carbon big data project has added "computing power".
A green energy industry chain also allows local people to steadily receive the "three incomes" of rent, wages, and employment at their doorsteps. Yuelong Photovoltaic Power Station transfers wasteland, and the annual rent of about 400 yuan per mu is directly transferred to the village collective account; during the weeding and management period from September to October every year, more than a hundred villagers from 88 surrounding villages come to work on the site, with a daily salary of about 200 yuan. Each household can earn an additional six to seven thousand yuan by just one job; surrounding villagers are given priority to be recruited for positions such as the power station canteen and cleaning.
As dusk gradually sets in, Yuelong's photovoltaic panels dim, but the indicator lights of Herong's energy storage cabins light up one after another - the electricity stored during the day is being continuously sent to thousands of households.
