Photos Capture the Breathtaking Scale of China’s Wind and Solar Buildout
Last year China installed more than half of all wind and solar added globally. In May alone, it added enough renewable energy to power Poland, installing solar panels at a rate of roughly 100 every second.
The massive buildout is happening across the country, from crowded eastern cities increasingly topped by rooftop solar panels to remote western deserts where colossal wind farms sprawl across the landscape.
“From the ground, it’s hard to grasp the scale of these power plants,” said Chinese photographer Weimin Chu. “But when you rise into the air, you can see the geometry, the rhythm — and their relationship with the mountains, the desert, the sea.”
Chu has spent three years capturing the shift underway using drones to photograph power plants from overhead. His work, which draws from the visual language of traditional Chinese ink paintings, was featured last year in an award-winning exhibition, presented by Greenpeace. A selection of those photos is reproduced here.
“I started out just shooting landscapes,” Chu said. “But when I traveled to places like Guizhou, Yunnan, and Qinghai in 2022, I kept seeing wind farms and solar power plants appear in my camera frame. I realized this is the story of our time — and almost no one is documenting it in a systematic way.”
A solar farm in the Daliang Mountains, Sichuan Province. Weimin Chu
A solar farm built on a tidal flat in Xiangshan County, Zhejiang Province. Weimin Chu
Wind turbines near the Gahai Wetland Reserve in Qinghai Province. Weimin Chu
Sheep graze among solar panels in the Tala Desert, Qinghai Province. Weimin Chu
A solar plant in Alxa, Inner Mongolia. Weimin Chu
Wind turbines seen beyond the Ming Dynasty Huguo Temple in Guizhou Province. Weimin Chu
Rooftop solar arrays in Binzhou, Shandong Province. Weimin Chu
A thermal power station in Dunhuang, Gansu Province. Weimin Chu
A wind turbine in the karst mountains of Xingyi, Guizhou Province. Weimin Chu
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