On the afternoon of September 14th, as the special report team's vehicle entered Dingbian County, the first sight to greet them was the sprawling line of wind turbines stretching across the loess plateau. Dozens of white turbines, each standing a hundred meters tall, turned slowly under the blue sky and white clouds. In the distance, on the flat tidal flats, vast arrays of photovoltaic panels resembled a deep blue lake, continuously harvesting energy from the heavens.
During the interview, it was noted that solar streetlights lined both sides of the village roads, lending this old revolutionary base area a touch of "future-tech" aesthetics. This place, however, was the first stop for the Central Red Army on its Long March into Shaanxi. In the late autumn of 1935, Red Army soldiers, wearing straw sandals, traversed the ravines of Tiejiao City, with the sound of pursuing troops behind them and the barren loess plateau beneath their feet.
Today, 568 solar streetlights have been installed across the county, each capable of lasting up to 10 hours of nighttime illumination. The once desolate mountainous region has bid farewell to its dark, lightless days. The glow of these solar lights is a microcosm of the industrial transformation happening in this old revolutionary area. Situated on the northern Shaanxi plateau, Dingbian boasts abundant sunlight and wind, endowed with exceptional clean energy resources. Leveraging this unique natural advantage, the local government has vigorously promoted wind power and photovoltaic industries, turning the scorching sun and howling winds that once accompanied the soldiers into a powerful economic engine for the county. This has paved a "glorious" green transformation path.
To date, Dingbian County has approved and incorporated 122 wind and solar projects into its construction plans, with a total installed capacity of 8.48 million kilowatts. By 2025, the county's new energy generation reached 9.069 billion kilowatt-hours, securing the top position in new energy installed capacity among Shaanxi's counties. On the afternoon of the 16th, the team visited the Huaneng Lianhuachi Wind-Solar Station in Yanchangbao Town. Covering an area of 2,400 mu, this station is the largest wind-solar integration base in northern Shaanxi.
These clean energies, harvested from nature, flow like fine capillaries, steadily delivering power to ordinary households. Qiu Ruiqin, the maintenance squad leader, pointed into the distance and explained that the wind and solar projects in this area alone generate about 350 million kilowatt-hours annually, enough to meet the electricity needs of roughly 110,000 households for a full year. As the new energy industry takes root, a quiet ecological revolution is underway here. The team noticed that beneath the massive photovoltaic panels, a lush "mini prairie" has emerged, replacing the once barren saline-alkali land where little could grow.
Qiu Ruiqin noted that many wind farms in northern Shaanxi are built on saline-alkali flats. The photovoltaic panels block intense sunlight, reduce surface water evaporation, and lower wind speeds near the ground, significantly improving the living conditions for plants on the saline-alkali soil. As a result, station vegetation has become more thriving than before station construction. In 2025, the photovoltaic station partnered with Xi'an University of Technology to launch a comprehensive treatment project for saline-alkali land under solar panels. The team, based on Dingbian's natural conditions, selected stress-resistant plants suited to sandy and saline-alkali environments, exploring new pathways for the coordinated development of new energy development and land restoration.
"The test field is currently only about four mu, but I believe it will expand to thousands or even tens of thousands of mu in the future," Qiu Ruiqin said with confidence. According to Dingbian County's 15th Five-Year Plan, the region aims to build a new energy base with a capacity of 10 million kilowatts, constructing a comprehensive energy system integrating wind, solar, thermal, storage, and hydrogen. The goal is for wind power installed capacity to surpass 5 million kilowatts and photovoltaic capacity to reach 5 million kilowatts by 2030.
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