Spatio-temporal exposure of photovoltaic farms to typhoon disasters for sustainable development in China's Coastal Regions

Abstract

The climate-adaptive solar energy planning contributes directly to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13. The juxtaposition of China's leadership in global PV expansion and the escalating climate risks in its coastal regions underscores the importance of aligning PV layout with risk mitigation. This study utilizes Landsat imagery to analyze the spatiotemporal changes of PV distribution in China's coastal regions, and assesses the effect of typhoon disasters to PV. Key findings reveal that by the end of 2023, the total PV area in coastal regions reached approximately 1962.89 ​km². Notably, provinces north of the Yangtze River hosted more than twice the PV area of those to the south. Rapid expansion began post-2015, with PV area more than doubling between 2020 and 2023. From a disaster risk perspective, about 20 ​% of China's coastal land area faces high typhoon risk, with 16 ​% of existing PV area located in high-risk regions. The East China Sea and South China Sea coasts exhibit the highest concentration of extreme-risk regions. Encouragingly, 82.15 ​% of recent PV expansion occurred in low-to-medium-risk regions, indicating that current layout strategies already account for typhoon threats. Looking ahead, the Bohai Sea coast, Yellow Sea coast, and coasts near the Nansha Islands present relatively low risk, making them preferable for future offshore PV projects. In contrast, the East and South China Sea coasts remain high-risk regions, necessitating cautious planning for offshore PV development.