Photos: The Scale of China’s Solar Power Projects

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Greg Baker / AFP / GettySolar panels cover hillsides in Zhangjiakou, in China's northern Hebei Province, on November 15, 2021.AFP / GettyRows of solar panels during installation at a photovoltaic project in Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong Province, on May 30, 2025.Ma Mingyan / China News Service / VCG / GettyAn aerial view of the CGN Delingha Solar Thermal Plant’s Molten Salt Thermal Energy Storage System, a 50-megawatt energy-storage project in Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China, on April 15, 2025.VCG / GettyAn aerial view looks directly down on dozens of bulldozers being used together to level the ground at the construction site of a wind-and-solar power base in the Kubuqi Desert, in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, on May 16, 2024.Liu Guoxing / VCG via Getty / VCGSolar panels stretch across the Gobi Desert at the Dalat Photovoltaic Power Generation, a 500-megawatt solar-power project, on December 9, 2024, in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China.Costfoto / NurPhoto / GettyWorkers carry out a photovoltaic-module inspection in Yinchuan, China, on June 21, 2024.Zuo Dongchen / VCG / GettyAn aerial view of the 7,540 photovoltaic modules arranged on the roof of Hangzhou West Railway Station, on August 6, 2024, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.CFoto / Future Publishing / GettyPhotovoltaic panels cover the roofs of houses in Yuanlong Village, in Yinchuan City, China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on January 15, 2025.Yuan Hongyan / VCG / GettySolar panels float on the surface of a reservoir in Majiatan, Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on May 6, 2024.CFoto / Future Publishing / GettyWorkers tend to herbs grown beneath solar panels in a photovoltaic plantation in Lihua, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, on July 21, 2024.VCG / GettyCattle are kept in pens beneath solar-panel arrays at an agrivoltaic farm in Mengcheng County, Bozhou, Anhui Province, China, on December 23, 2023.Yang Meiqing / VCG / GettyDrones lift and place solar panels along steep hillsides during the construction of an agrivoltaic farm in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China, on December 19, 2024.Wang Li / VCG / GettyEmployees work on solar panels on a production line at a workshop in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, China, on March 22, 2025.Zhang Zhongping / VCG / GettyAn aerial view of the construction site of a 1-million-kilowatt solar-thermal energy-generation and storage project in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China, on May 25, 2025.Xiao Benxiang / VCG / GettySolar panels stand in an installation beside a lake at a hybrid fishery and solar-photovoltaic-power station in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China, on December 15, 2024.CFoto / Future Publishing / GettyAn overview of part of the site of a 450,000-kilowatt integrated solar, thermal, and storage project in the Gobi Desert in Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China, on July 8, 2025.AFP / GettyWorkers carry solar panels to be installed in the desert at the Ningguoyun Lingwu 1-million-kilowatt photovoltaic project in Lingwu, in China's northern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on April 14, 2025.AFP / GettyAn aerial view shows residential buildings with roof-mounted photovoltaic-solar panels in Yinchuan, in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on March 31, 2024.Wan Sc / Feature China / Future Publishing / GettyFloating solar panels stretch across an aquatic farm built on land that subsided after extensive coal mining, in Suixi County, Anhui Province, China, on April 28, 2025.AFP / GettyThis photo, taken on April 5, 2025, shows a herd of Père David’s deer crossing a river past solar panels in a nature reserve in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, China.Qilai Shen / Bloomberg / GettySolar panels reflect sunlight at a power station at the Dunhuang Photovoltaic Industrial Park, in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China, on October 16, 2024. China is set to see another year of record solar installation as the nation pushes for a massive renewable buildout, mainly in its interior.Feng Yang / Xinhua / GettyAn aerial photo, taken on January 6, 2025, shows a partial view of the Shichengzi photovoltaic-power station in Hami, in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.