Solar power in the desert: the launch ceremony for the construction of a new photovoltaic, or PV power generation base, takes place in the Kubuqi Desert in Dalad Banner, Ordos, in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Oct 12. [Photo/northnews.cn]

The use of solar panel-generated power in Inner Mongolia autonomous region is continuing apace, with the latest major project kicking off to build a photovoltaic power plant, according to local officials.

They said the launch ceremony for the construction of the new PV power plant took place in the Kubuqi Desert in Dalad Banner in Ordos on Oct 12.

With a total investment of 325 million yuan ($45.81 million), the Dalad PV plant is one of a series of projects included in the third state subsidy plan for PV power generation projects.

The state plan was announced by National Energy Administration on June 14 and the Dalad base was the only one included in the autonomous region.

The installed capacity of the base is about 500,000 kilowatts, officials said. It will cover an area of 25,000 mu (1,667 hectares) and includes five individual projects.

According to local authorities, after the completion of the base, the "PV+" development approach will be adopted to coordinate and advance the integrated development of a clean desert energy economy.

It will also be used to advance desert ecological management, desert-featured agriculture, desert-style tourism and other industries, so as to comprehensively and sympathetically utilize the land.

The new plant is expected to connect to the power grid at full capacity by June 10, 2020, officials said.

It will have an annual power generation capacity of 2 billion kilowatt hours, an output value of 620 million yuan and will lead to a decrease of 660,000 tons in the use of coal and falls in annual emissions of 1.65 million tons of carbon dioxide and 450,000 tons of dust.

In addition, during the construction period of the project, the local authorities will synchronously complete the environmental regeneration of 3,200 hectares of land, plant a commercial jujube or Chinese date forest of 1,600 ha and astragalus and a Chinese medical herbal planting area of 800 ha.

Officials said this will make the effective sand stabilization area reach 6,667 ha in the area.

They added that this will help promote the development of the new energy industry in Inner Mongolia and the application and industrial upgrading of advanced photovoltaic technology products.