Yalong River Hydropower Development, a state-owned hydropower developer, has started building the 1 GW Kela PV power station in Sichuan province, southwestern China.
The solar facility will be connected to the operational 3 GW Lianghekou hydropower station on the Yalong River. Upon completion, the new hybrid PV-hydropower complex will be the world's largest power plant of its kind. The hydropower side of the project has an adjustable capacity of up to 6.56 billion cubic meters of water.
Yalong River Hydropower Development is investing CNY 5.3 billion ($791 million) in the solar facility, which will be built on a plateau at an altitude of 4,000 to 4,600 meters. It will be connected to the hydropower plant through an existing 220 kV transmission line and a new 500 kV line.
The solar plant will feature more than 2 million solar panels and over 5,000 inverters. The modules will be placed at a height of 1.9 meters to enable the growth of vegetation beneath them and ensure grazing space for cattle and sheep.
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Yalong River Hydropower Development said construction of the solar plant will be completed by the end of 2023. As the exclusive developer of energy infrastructure on the Yalong River basin, the company plans to deploy 80 GW of renewable energy capacity in the area, including 40 GW of wind and solar and 10 GW of pumped-hydro storage.
Yalong Hydropower is jointly owned by government-owned China Development and Investment Corp. and Sichuan Investment Group, the main investment entity of the Sichuan provincial government.
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