CHINA / SOLAR ENERGY

In China, 97 percent of the population has access to electricity. But given China's population, the three percent remaining still add up to a great many people. On the vast plains of Inner Mongolia, herders and business people are turning to new ways to solve the problem. WORLD BANK

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:56
• Production Date: 13 September 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD BANK
• Subject Topical: DEVELOPMENT; ENERGY RESOURCES
• Geographic Subject: CHINA
• MAMS Id: U100913f

Description

STORY: CHINA / SOLAR ENERGY
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
TRT: 2:56
LANGUAGE: MANDARIN / NATS

DATELINE: JUNE 2010, INNER MONGOLIA, CHINA

Shotlist

1. Various shots, TV set
2. Wide shot, goats
3. Wide shot, isolated house
4. Close-up, fridge to washing machine
5. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Bater (no last name), herder:
“It has changed my life, since my family lives in town, it is only myself here, I can watch TV. Before with a smaller system I could only watch one show and it was really dull, now I can watch all day so I will not feel so lonely.”
6. Wide shot, solar and wind panels
7. Close-up, solar panels
8. Med shot, isolated house
9. Close-up, light
10. Wide shot, house
11. Close-up, businessmen
12. Close-up, solar panel
13. Med shot, man with solar panel
14. Wide shot, store
15. Wide shot, store
16. Close-up, panels
17. Wide shot, plains with wind turbines
18. Wide shot, water pump
19. Close-up, water spout
20. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Jiang Zhan, GM, New Energy Company:
“We’ve sold 2000 home systems to herdsmen, those systems help those herdsmen with electricity so children can study and live with lamps produced by electricity instead of candles and kerosene lamps.”
21. Close-up, solar panels
22. Close-up, electrical box
23. Med shot, man using fridge
24. Med shot, man watching TV
25. Wide shot, plain
26. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Dalai, herder:
“Before the system was installed, it was hard to have fresh meat and vegetables. Now we use the fridge and eat fresh food whenever we want it. And we can watch TV; we watch the news and know what is happening in the rest of the world.”
27. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Chao Lumeng, herder:
“Before the photovoltaic system, after sunset, we had to light candles, we had nothing to do, no TV, no entertainment, we just went to bed. Nothing to do.”
28. Wide shot, electrical pylon
29. Wide shot, wind turbines
30. Med shot, panel and turbine
31. Med shot, solar reflector
32. Med shot, solar-powered tea kettle
33. Close-up, kettle

Storyline

Bater, which means hero, lives alone on the windy grasslands of Inner Mongolia. He tends to 700 sheep and a few cows far from the nearest town. Until 2009, he had limited access to electricity with no fridge, DVD player or washing machine. Now, he’s got it all.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Bater, herder:
“It has changed my life, since my family lives in town, it is only myself here, I can watch TV. Before with a smaller system I could only watch one show and it was really dull, now I can watch all day so I will not feel so lonely.”

Bater relies on photovoltaic cells, solar energy combined with wind power, to feed his electricity needs.

Worldwide, two billion people live without access to modern forms of energy. And though solar power is expensive, 5 to 10 as much as coal power, it is clean and abundant.

China makes 30 percent of the world’s solar components. And a World Bank program aims to help develop solar technology and the markets for it.

More than 28 Chinese companies have benefitted from the program, increasing sales, mostly in the remote rural areas in northwest China without access to the grid.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Jiang Zhan, GM, New Energy Company:
“We’ve sold 2000 home systems to herdsmen, those systems help those herdsmen with electricity so children can study and live with lamps produced by electricity instead of candles and kerosene lamps.”

Because of this project, two million people in western China now rely on solar panels to keep food frozen and, in a place of long views, expand their horizons.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Dalai, herder:
“Before the system was installed, it was hard to have fresh meat and vegetables. Now we use the fridge and eat fresh food whenever we want it. And we can watch TV; we watch the news and know what is happening in the rest of the world.”

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Chao Lumeng, herder:
“Before the photovoltaic system, after sunset, we had to light candles, we had nothing to do, no TV, no entertainment, we just went to bed. Nothing to do.”

China’s huge demand for energy is sparking a similarly huge push for innovation. The country is now the biggest maker of larger-scale solar cells, and a growing maker of and market for sustainable energy.