Chinese solar developer Yingli Green Energy (Yingli) has broken ground on a 100MW ‘Top Runner’ solar project in the Wuhai City of Inner Mongolia Autonomous region.
The project will be developed on the coal mining subsidence areas of the city and will spread across 2.04km2 area.
It will be the second ‘Top Runner’ project of the company after the 50MW ‘Top Runner’ project in Shanxi province.
The solar project will use Yingli’s PANDA Bifacial PV panels which are claimed to generate power from both front and rear sides. Project completion and grid connection are expected to take place in next June.
Once the operations begin, the solar project could help in offsetting at least 60.3 tons of dust, 13.4 tons of carbon and 1.8 tons of cinder annually.
According to the company, the project could play a vital role in providing relief from energy pressure, improving environment and climate in the region.
Yingli chairman and CEO Liansheng Miao said: "We are glad to participate in "Top Runner" program again with our reliable and high efficient products.
"Data shows that, since the grid-connection of the Datong 50 MW 'Top Runner' project, which utilized PANDA Bifacial panels, its monthly energy yield is up to approximately 17% higher than typical multi-crystalline solar plants.
“We believe that this project will be another sample of Yingli's efforts in technological innovations to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of solar power generation."
Yingli Green Energy’s subsidiary Yingli Energy (China) had connected the Datong 50 MW 'Top Runner' project to grid in June 2016.
The project was developed as part of the "Top Runner" program of China's National Energy Administration (NEA), which looks to expand its existing 80 GW of solar capacity by 8-10GW.
As part the program, China looks to achieve grid parity from PV power generation by 2020.
Image: Yingli’s new solar plant will be located in coal mining subsidence region in the Wuhai City. Photo: Courtesy of Naypong/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.