Yalong River Hydropower Development, part of China’s State Development & Investment Corp. (SDIC), has commissioned the 1 GW Suorong solar farm in Sichuan’s Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
Situated approximately 4600 metres above sea level, the facility ranks as the world’s third-highest solar installation, trailing only China Huadian Corp’s 100 MW array at 5228 metres and Dynavolt Renewable Energy Technology’s 40 MW/193 MWh solar-storage hybrid at 4700 metres.
Suorong integrates into a larger hydro-solar system, pairing photovoltaic output with upstream hydropower to balance fluctuations and maximise use of shared transmission lines. The solar plant feeds power through the same grid as Yalong River hydropower assets run by SDIC’s Yalong Hydro unit, totalling about 21 GW in capacity.
China’s photovoltaic capacity surged 46% in 2024 alone, adding 278 GW to hit 888 GW overall – equivalent to 27% of the nation’s total power capacity. Solar contributed roughly 8% of electricity production that year, building on 217 GW added in 2023 and 86 GW in 2022.
