Solar photovoltaic program helps turn deserts green in China: Evidence from satellite monitoring

Zilong Xia; Yingjie Li; Wei Zhang; Ruishan Chen; Shanchuan Guo; Peng Zhang; Peijun Du

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116338

Solar photovoltaic program helps turn deserts green in China: Evidence from satellite monitoring

J Environ Manage. 2022 Dec 15:324:116338. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116338. Epub 2022 Oct 5.

Authors

Zilong Xia¹, Yingjie Li², Wei Zhang¹, Ruishan Chen³, Shanchuan Guo¹, Peng Zhang¹, Peijun Du⁴

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science and Technology, Key Laboratory for Land Satellite Remote Sensing Applications of Ministry of Natural Resources, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210023, China; Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210023, China.
² Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA; Environmental Science and Policy Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA.
³ School of Design, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200241, China.
⁴ Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science and Technology, Key Laboratory for Land Satellite Remote Sensing Applications of Ministry of Natural Resources, School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210023, China; Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210023, China. Electronic address: peijun@nju.edu.cn.

PMID: 36208517
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116338

Abstract

Solar energy is considered one of the key solutions to the growing demand for energy and to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to the relatively low cost of land use for solar energy and high power generation potential, a large number of photovoltaic (PV) power stations have been established in desert areas around the world. Despite the contribution to easing the energy crisis and combating climate change, large-scale construction and operation of PV power stations can change the land cover and affect the environment. However, few studies have focused on these special land cover changes, especially vegetation cover changes, which hinders understanding the effects of the extensive development of solar energy. Here, we used Continuous Change Detection and Classification - Spectral Mixture Analysis (CCDC-SMA) based on Landsat images to monitor changes in vegetation abundance before and after the PV power stations deployment. To reduce the interference of PV shading on vegetation abundance estimation, we improved the vegetation (VG) fraction from SMA and developed the Photovoltaics-Adjusted Vegetation (PAVG) fraction for vegetation abundance measurements in PV power stations. Results show that PV power stations in China's 12 biggest deserts expanded from 0 to 102.56 km² from 2011 to 2018, mainly distributed in the central part of north China. The desert vegetation in the deployment area of PV power stations presented a significant greening trend. Compared to 2010, the greening area reached 30.80 km², accounting for 30% of the total area of PV power stations. Overall, the large-scale deployment of PV power stations has promoted desert greening, primarily due to government-led Photovoltaic Desert Control Projects and favorable climatic change. This study shows the great benefits of PV power stations in combating desertification and improving people's welfare, which bring sustainable economic, ecological and social prosperity in sandy ecosystems.

Keywords: CCDC-SMA; Fractional vegetation cover; Landsat; Solar energy; Time series analysis.

MeSH terms

China
Climate Change
Ecosystem
Greenhouse Gases*
Humans
Solar Energy*
Sunlight

Substances

Greenhouse Gases