Guess what? PetroChina’s Tarim Oilfield in the Chinese mainland just hit a major green milestone: over 2 billion kWh of solar energy generated as of Sunday! ☀️✨
Located in the vast Taklimakan Desert, Tarim Oilfield is the third-largest onshore oil and gas field and a key hub for the west-to-east gas transmission project. But it's not just about fossil fuels anymore. Here’s how they’re blending oil drilling with sunshine:
- 5 central solar plants with a combined 2.6 million kW capacity
- 239 distributed PV installations at stations and individual wells, adding 63,000 kW
“Based on the national residential electricity consumption in 2024, the 2 billion kWh we’ve generated could power over 1.8 million people for a year,” says Liang Yulei, head of new energy at Tarim. That’s like swapping out 600,000 tonnes of coal and cutting CO2 emissions by 1.07 million tonnes. 🌍💚
Even cooler? About 8% of this solar juice keeps the oilfield running, while the other 92% feeds into the wider grid, lighting up homes across the region. Talk about multitasking! 🔋🏠
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, rich in sun and wind, has been supercharging its new energy sector in recent years. With this sunny achievement, Tarim Oilfield shows how traditional energy sites can go green without missing a beat.
So next time you think of deserts as empty sand piles, remember: they're also giant solar power stations in disguise. 🌵🔆
Reference(s):
China's Tarim Oilfield records solar generation of over 2 billion kWh
cgtn.com
