Hanwha Group has completed the donation of a solar photovoltaic (PV) plant dedicated to assist rehabilitating land degradation, combating desertification and mitigating drought effects in the Baijitan National Nature Reserve of Lingwu City, Ningxia, China.

The installation was completed with support of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the State Forestry Administration and Forestry Department of Ningxia Hui autonomous Region. This project marks the first time the UNCCD's has worked in cooperation with a private company to combat desertification.

Located near the Southwest edge of the Mu Us Desert, Lingwu City has a fragile, arid ecosystem which faces severe land degradation and desertification.

The problem has intensified under the pressure of unsustainable development in past decades. With the partnership and support of the UNCCD, the Hanwha Group donated and installed an 80kWh solar PV generation facility, manufactured by Hanwha SolarOne, Co. Ltd., and provided technical training needed to manage and operate the facility.

The solar plant will power a 3,200-square-meter greenhouse in the Baijitan Nature Reserve. Hanwha's cooperation with Ningxia and the UNCCD is a unique public-private partnership which offers a framework for sustainable and long-term solutions to fighting desertification.

"Hanwha Group has long been committed to creating a brighter future, and it is our honor and mission to provide substantive support to combating desertification through clean, sustainable solar energy, in partnership with the UNCCD" said Mr. Ki-Joon Hong, CEO of Hanwha SolarOne.

"Sustainable land management and development is one of our highest priorities as a responsible corporate citizen. We will devote ourselves to the undertaking of environmental protection through low carbon solutions, and will play an increasingly active role in raising awareness about sustainable land management and development of arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, which is one of our greatest missions as a civil society organization."

"The project that Hanwha Group and Hanwha SolarOne have granted to the Baijitan Nature Reserve will benefit the local people, help the local community and improve the local environment," said Mr. Youlin Yang, coordinator of Regional Coordination Unit for Asia Pacific Region of UNCCD.

"It is also a successful pilot of a public-private partnership program that other affected countries and regions can learn from and follow in-kind."