Does PV power station deployment affect desert vegetation?

Previous remote sensing studies of a few PV power stations have demonstrated that the PV power station deployment does not significantly alter desert vegetation (Edalat and Stephen, 2017; Potter, 2016).

Are deserts a good place to build a PV power station?

Deserts are becoming the ideal places for constructing photovoltaic (PV) power stations, due to sufficient light conditions and broadly available land resources (Tanner et al., 2020). Apart from croplands, deserts are the most deployed areas for PV power stations worldwide by 2018 (Kruitwagen et al., 2021).

Does PV power station deployment promote desert greening in China?

In general, the desert greening (with a significant increase in vegetation) in China from PV power station deployment is largely promoted by the policy-driven Photovoltaic Desert Control Projects. However, the human activities effects on vegetation are often superimposed on the long-term climate-driven variations.

Should solar power stations be built in desert areas?

As renewable energy development is accelerating globally, more and more PV power stations are built in desert areas to meet the growing demand for sustainable energy (Kruitwagen et al., 2021; Li et al., 2018).

How does a desert PV network work?

The entire network connects the various desert PV plants, using this transmission line as the main artery to radiate outward for transmission and distribution. Among them, a transmission line across the Red Sea is required between the African desert PV plants and the Middle East desert PV plants, with a minimum length of about 200 km.

Can a desert solar park power a transcontinental power network?

In China, the Tengger Desert Solar Park with a solar generation capacity of 1.5 GW and an area of 43 square kilometers could power over 1,800,000 people (13). In this research, we conceptualize a desert PV-based power network for transcontinental power interconnection.