China - January 29, 2025 Landmark photovoltaic project in Xinjiang desert connected to grid (Voice_over) A massive photovoltaic farm in the Taklimakan Desert of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is now connected to the national grid, officials from CNPC announced recently. China National Petroleum Corporation says the 1.3 million-kilowatt facility on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin is made up of solar panels, booster stations and large-scale energy storage power stations. The facility is expected to generate the same amount of energy that would be produced by burning 620,000 tons of standard coal, which could reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1.6 million tons. (Sound_bite) Cui Wei, deputy manager of CNPC's new energy division at the Tarim Oilfield "The project is expected to generate 2.1 billion kWh of clean electricity annually. The green electricity produced by 2.7 million photovoltaic panels will be fed into the national power grid, contributing to green production and low-carbon transformation." (Voice_over) Besides generating clean energy, the facility is part of the country's photovoltaic-based desert control model wherein solar farms are erected in the Taklimakan to help prevent it from spreading. [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]