More rooftop solar panels added to energize Shanghai Metro
Some 50,000 square meters of rooftop solar panels at Longyang Road Station are equivalent to the area of about seven standard football pitches.
Solar energy is supplying part of the electric power needed to run Shanghai's subway network, one of the largest in the world.
Tens of thousands of rooftop solar panels have been installed at key Metro stations or depots of the city's 20 Metro lines that cover over 800 kilometers.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, promoted the solar power project on her Twitter account, receiving over 500 retweets and likes.
"More than 4 million kWh of electricity was generated in 2020 by the solar panels installed on the roof of a metro depot in Shanghai. This amount of energy can allow an eight-cabin metro train to run 200,000 kilometers," Hua said in the tweet under the hashtag of "#GreenChina."
The project aims to help achieve the Chinese government's targets of clean air and carbon neutrality by 2060. Shanghai government has announced it expects to achieve these goals in a shorter time.
Another three new rooftop solar-power projects have been finished on Shanghai's outskirts to supply additional green energy for the subway operations, the city's Metro operator announced on Thursday.
The solar-power bases at Pudong's Chuansha Town, Jiading's Fengbang Town and Jiuting in Songjiang District can generate about 11.7 million kilowatt hours a year, and can support an eight-carriage subway train to run 600,000 kilometers.
The new projects, or the phase-4 solar-energy program of Shanghai Metro, can save about 3,370 tons of coal per year and reduce the carbon dioxide emission by 9,220 tons annually.
The Chuansha solar-power station neighboring Yuandong Avenue Station will serve Metro Line 2 along with the Longyang Road solar power station, while the Fengbang station will supply energy for the maintenance of Metro Line 14, designed to be China's first "three-star green subway line," according to Shentong Metro, the operator.
Over a dozen such solar-power bases have been established for Shanghai Metro, generating about 36 million kWh of electricity every year for the busy subway operation.
Shanghai Metro network covers 831 kilometers and has 83 interchange stations, retaining Shanghai's status as the city with one of the largest subway networks in the world.
The tweet of Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, has received hundreds of retweets and likes.
The rooftop solar panels resemble an "M," the logo of Shanghai Metro.
As the most eye-catching project introduced by Hua, 50,000 square meters of rooftop solar panels have been installed at the depot of Longyang Road Station, equivalent to about seven standard football pitches.
The photos of the rooftop solar panels, which resemble an "M," the logo of Shanghai Metro, have been widely spread on social media networks.
The electricity generated is used for trains and other operations of Metro lines 2 and 7, which interchange at Longyang Road Station in Pudong.
With smart technologies, engineers can control and monitor the Metro rooftop power panels remotely, instead of having to climb up and down several times a day to check devices.
Similar smart solar plants have also been installed in Beijing's new mega-airport Daxing and in the Xiong'an high-speed railway station in north Hebei Province.
China has announced that it will strive to bring its carbon emissions to a peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral before 2060. The megacity of Shanghai aims to bring its carbon emissions to a peak before 2025, five years ahead of the national target.
The new rooftop solar panel project at Fengbang Town, Jiading District.
