Recently, a land use issue concerning a renewable energy project in Lianzhou City, Qinyuan, Guangdong, has garnered significant attention within the industry.
An article published by an industry self-media outlet titled “Land Use Conflicts Lead to Demolition of a PV Station for Wind Power” reported that since December 2024, a photovoltaic project operated by a state-owned enterprise in Lianzhou has faced repeated demolitions. This has occurred because the approved site for a wind power project overlaps with parts of the photovoltaic area, resulting in damage to several solar arrays, fencing, and foundations, with estimated asset losses around 1 million yuan.
Investigations by Yicai Global revealed that the affected photovoltaic project belongs to Guangzhou Development Group Co., Ltd. (600096.SH), referred to as the “Lianzhou Xingzi 200MW Agricultural PV Project.” The wind power project is developed by a subsidiary of Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd. (300274.SZ), known as the “Xingzi Longping 100MW Wind Power Project.”
According to a land boundary map for the wind power project published by the Lianzhou City Natural Resources Bureau on November 20, 2024, there indeed exists some overlap between the two projects’ land use.
This land use conflict in Lianzhou is emblematic of the challenges faced by renewable energy projects regarding land availability. In recent years, as the installed capacity of renewable energy continues to rise, the issue of land scarcity has become increasingly pronounced.
On March 8, staff from Guangzhou Development indicated to Yicai Global that “on-site demolitions have ceased, and restoration efforts are underway, with government departments actively engaged in resolving the issue.” Similarly, officials from the Xingzi Town government confirmed that they are in communication with the enterprises involved.
Attempts to reach relevant departments in Lianzhou have not yielded responses as of the time of this report.
Land Use Issues Causing Project Delays
Why have two renewable energy projects in the same area encountered land overlap issues leading to disputes? Yicai Global has yet to acquire detailed information regarding this matter. However, it was discovered that before this dispute, the Xingzi Longping wind power project had already faced delays in approval due to land use issues.
The Lianzhou City government website states that the Xingzi Longping wind power project is developed by Lianzhou Yangfeng Wind Power Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sungrow Power. The project’s land use pertains to several village committees, including Xincun, Chitang, Mashui, Donghong, Sifang, Changli, and Fenghuang. The total area for the project is 8,290.2 square meters, involving 22 wind turbine foundations with an installed capacity of 100MW.
Information from the Guangdong Provincial Investment Project Online Approval and Regulation Platform indicates that the project developers previously submitted a request to the Qinyuan Development and Reform Bureau for an extension on the project’s approval due to ongoing land approvals. The Bureau responded on May 26, 2022, stating that the project had yet to commence construction due to unresolved forest land approval issues, granting a one-year extension until June 5, 2023.
As of February 14, 2025, the Qinyuan Natural Resources Bureau issued an approval for temporary land use of 0.3657 hectares (3,657 square meters) for construction access, allowing the project to commence under temporary land conditions. This means that the project has now received the necessary conditions to begin construction.
It’s noteworthy that the wind power project has been in the application process for land pre-examination and site selection since 2019, indicating that nearly six years elapsed from the initial land pre-examination request to the granting of temporary land use conditions for construction.
Tightening Land Use for Renewable Energy Stations
Renewable energy projects, particularly wind and solar, require significant land area, and the trend of tightening land use is becoming evident. This shift is influenced by changes in industry and policy.
From a policy perspective, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued “Land Use Control Indicators for Photovoltaic Power Station Projects” in April 2023, which sets maximum land use limits for photovoltaic projects under various conditions. The rationale for controlling land use is that land-based renewable projects, like wind and solar, often require extensive land, and there have been instances of encroachment on prime agricultural land in past years.
According to the land use indicators, photovoltaic projects in plain areas tend to occupy less land; however, even under optimal conditions, a 10MW photovoltaic project requires approximately 90 acres of land. Wind power projects generally require less land. The recent overlap dispute in Lianzhou reflects this characteristic: the Lianzhou Xingzi photovoltaic project occupies about 5,000 acres (approximately 333,000 square meters), designed to install 500,000 solar panels with a total capacity of 200MW. The overall investment exceeds 800 million yuan, with grid connection achieved in December 2019, generating an average annual output of about 200 million kWh.
On the other hand, the Xingzi Longping wind power project includes 22 wind turbine bases, with a land use area of 8,290.2 square meters, averaging 376 square meters per turbine.
In recent years, the renewable energy sector, especially land-based projects, has seen rapid development, leading to bubbles and overheating in some regions. As of December 2023, the National Energy Administration reported that the total installed power generation capacity reached approximately 3.35 billion kW, a year-on-year increase of 14.6%. Of this, solar power capacity reached about 890 million kW, up 45.2%, while wind power capacity reached around 520 million kW, an increase of 18.0%.
“Today, finding suitable land for a typical 100MW photovoltaic power project is increasingly challenging,” a source from a renewable energy investment company told Yicai Global, indicating that land scarcity has become a key factor hindering the advancement of some projects, particularly in the eastern coastal regions. For instance, two years ago, their company planned to invest in a 300MW photovoltaic project in a coastal province, but the project was abandoned due to unresolved land use issues.
Recently, some provinces have begun tightening land use regulations for renewable energy projects. On January 14, the Natural Resources Department of Shaanxi Province and the Shaanxi Development and Reform Commission issued a notice stating that photovoltaic arrays must not occupy arable land and that the occupation of sloped land with a gradient of less than 25° is generally prohibited.
In some provinces, several photovoltaic projects have been announced for cancellation. On February 20, the Fujian Development and Reform Commission released a notice to abolish a number of photovoltaic projects that no longer meet implementation conditions, totaling approximately 1.143GW (114.3 million kW) of water surface photovoltaic projects. This decision was influenced by policy adjustments from national resource guarantee departments, indicating that certain projects are no longer viable for development. Consequently, relevant municipal departments will no longer accept land or sea use applications for these projects.
Since 2024, multiple provinces, including Inner Mongolia, Anhui, Guizhou, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Fujian, and Hebei, have announced lists of abandoned, removed, adjusted, or recaptured indicators for renewable energy projects. These measures aim to optimize land resource allocation by releasing land previously occupied by projects lacking feasibility or development potential, allowing for re-planning and redistribution to more promising and beneficial renewable energy projects.
To address land use challenges in renewable energy projects, policies are proactively guiding efforts. As early as 2022, the Ministry of Natural Resources, in collaboration with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the National Energy Administration, issued a notice encouraging the development of photovoltaic power industries using unused land and existing construction sites. This is to promote the establishment of large photovoltaic bases in desert, Gobi, and barren areas while strictly safeguarding ecological integrity.
