DATONG — In the city of Datong, North China's Shanxi province, hundreds of thousands of photovoltaic panels form the shape of giant pandas on the top of mountains. The city is taking a transition path towards renewable energy development.

In the 1980s, Datong became China's "capital of coal" as demands for its rich energy resources took off. However, the city's heavy dependence on coal inevitably sent it into economic woe as the country's industrial transformation began.

In recent years, Datong built a panda-shaped photovoltaic power station consisting of 170,000 photovoltaic panels, which lies on saline-alkali land near the outskirts of the city. The solar farm has generated 80 million kWh of solar-powered electricity annually since its operation, equating to the total annual electricity consumption of over 30 thousand households.

Datong's move is an epitome of China's efforts to push forward clean energy development. China is going full throttle to develop new energy resources and increase their proportion in primary energy consumption nationwide, which are expected to lighten the burden on the environment and ecosystems and provide practical solutions to mitigating soil, surface water and air pollution.