China installed more solar-power capacity last year than the U.S. has built in its history. Now Beijing is worried that the push may have gone too far in some places as solar farms encroach on cropland, undermining leader Xi Jinping’s goal of ensuring China can feed itself.
Backed by soaring demand for renewable energy, solar-power projects have become lucrative enough—especially when state subsidies are included—that some companies, local officials and farmers are trying to cash in by repurposing areas once dedicated to crops, defying Beijing’s diktats against developing arable land.
The issue garnered national attention after state broadcaster China Central Television aired a report on it earlier this year.
In the rural township of Muzi in Hubei province, a major grain-producing region, CCTV found that several hundred acres once earmarked as “high-quality farmland” had been covered with solar photovoltaic panels, even though local authorities had announced plans in 2019 to build irrigation channels, drainage and roads there to boost crop yields and improve connectivity.
While the solar sector deserves support, “no matter how good the industry, it shouldn’t violate state laws and go against the central government’s policies,” CCTV warned. “The protection of farmland is a major matter related to national security strategy.”
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