Development of plantation under solar panels liberates land restrictions

Recently, due to the huge land inventory required to develop solar photovoltaic plants, and the strict restrictions of the Chinese government on the use of agricultural land, solar companies are turning to an innovative solution: developing various farming and breeding under solar panels, including hairy crab farming, which not only wins the support of local farmers, but also brings additional income streams
to the business.

At the Xicun Power Station in Yunnan Province, CLP, a Hong Kong-listed company, has partnered with local farmers to grow honeysuckle, a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, under solar panels
.
In this mountainous region, solar panels cover the hilltops
.
Yang Lizhi, energy analyst at CLSA in Hong Kong, said: "This approach is very reasonable because it can integrate solar power into agricultural land very effectively and will not encroach on agricultural production space
.
" ”

Ms Yang Xinfeng, a farmer weeding young honeysuckle plants, said: "In the past, I didn't know much about this crop, and it was not easy
to look after them.
But now I'm making a lot more money
.
Since Ms.
Yang started working for the honeysuckle contractor brought in by CLP, her income has tripled to $
3,000 per month.

CLP doubled the installed capacity of the Xicun power station to 100 megawatts, enough to power thousands of homes in nearby Dali
.
The group is currently building a similar project in another part of China, farming specialty aquatic hairy crabs
in ponds under solar panels.