The construction of 86 photovoltaic power stations will be completed by March this year along the Tarim Desert Highway in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The 566-km-long highway traverses through the Taklamakan Desert, the world's second largest shifting sand desert.
A 436-km-long and over-70-meter wide "green wall", formed by some 20 million trees, was completed on both sides of the highway in 2005 by Tarim Oilfield, to protect the desert highway from the intrusion of sand.
As a replacement of diesel power generation, these clean-energy power stations will help pump underground water to irrigate the trees.
It is estimated that these photovoltaic power stations will reduce diesel consumption by more than 1,000 tons and carbon dioxide emissions by about 3,410 tons every year.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
