Among numerous new energy technologies, solar power generation has obvious technological advantages such as simple structure, convenient maintenance, high reliability, and long service life, making it very suitable for use in remote areas without electricity in China.

Since the 1980s, China has started promoting solar photovoltaic power generation systems in remote agricultural and pastoral areas, and has installed nearly 500000 systems to date. According to the "Medium and Long Term Development Plan for Renewable Energy" prepared by the National Development and Reform Commission, the total capacity of solar photovoltaic power generation in China will reach 400000 kilowatts by 2010 and 2.2 million kilowatts by 2020, indicating that the domestic photovoltaic market in China is very huge.

According to China's national conditions, there is also great market potential for using solar power generation technology for urban road and residential lighting. The government should actively promote public welfare buildings, iconic buildings, and high-end buildings in central cities. The government should introduce policies requiring the installation of photovoltaic roofs and curtain walls to play a demonstration role.

Building large-scale grid connected photovoltaic power generation systems has become a grand strategy for some countries around the world to utilize solar energy on a large scale. China has 1.08 million square kilometers of desert resources, mainly distributed in the northwest region with abundant lighting resources. Photovoltaic power generation, which hardly requires water resources, has unlimited development space. With the development of power transmission technology and energy storage, large-scale desert power stations will become the future power base in China. Experts suggest that some desert areas with excellent tourism resources can be used as the starting areas for the construction of large-scale grid connected photovoltaic projects in China.