Luwu Solar Power Plant Address

Where are PV power plants located in China?

Eventually, we established a map of PV power plants in China by 2020, covering a total area of 2917 km2. We found that most PV power plants were situated on cropland, followed by barren land and grassland, based on the derived national PV map. In addition, the installation of PV power plants has generally decreased the vegetation cover.

How big are PV power plants in China?

The total area of the PV power plants in China is about 897 km2, based on Dunnett's dataset. We manually modified this dataset with Google Earth's background to ensure that the PV samples are located inside the PV power plants.

Where are solar power plants located?

From the perspective of geographical distribution, larger solar power plants (≥100MW) are sparsely distributed in remote locations from urban areas, particularly in the northwest region, notably Qinghai and Xinjiang.

Where are PV power plants built?

PV power plants are built in various landscapes, including deserts, mountains, coasts, and lakes (Sahu et al., 2016; Al Garni and Awasthi, 2017; Hammoud et al., 2019). The limited labeled data are insufficient to cover most of the spectral parameter space of PV power plants in complicated geographical environments.

Does China need a comprehensive map of PV power plants?

With the world's highest cumulative and fastest built PV capacity, China needs to assess the environmental and social impacts of these established PV power plants. However, a comprehensive map regarding the PV power plants' locations and extent remains scarce on the country scale.

Do PV power plants reduce vegetation in China?

The PV power plants in China are more likely to be installed in suitable natural conditions but with low power demand or in areas with high local energy demand. We also found that installing PV power plants will generally decrease the vegetation. Our dataset is conducive to policy management and environmental assessment.