Amid the global trend towards green and low-carbon development, domestic internet giants such as Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, JD.com, and Xiaomi have ventured into the photovoltaic (PV) sector, embarking on a journey to chase “light”.
Tencent
In May 2022, Tencent took a significant step in the PV sector by leading a hundreds-of-millions-yuan Series B funding round for Kunshan GCL Photoelectric Materials. This move marked Tencent’s first foray into the upstream of the PV industry, involving the most basic manufacturing materials sector, and injected strong capital into the development of the PV industry.
Regarding data centers, Tencent has achieved remarkable results in multiple projects. On February 22, 2022, the distributed PV project of Tencent Cloud’s Yizheng Data Center was officially connected to the grid at full capacity. With a total installed capacity of 12.92 megawatts (MW), it was the largest distributed PV project on the roof of a data center in Jiangsu Province at that time. After grid connection, the average annual power generation exceeded 12 million kWh, saving about 3,800 tonnes of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 10,000 tonnes annually.
Tencent’s Huailai East Park Data Center successfully implemented the country’s first microgrid project for data centers integrating “wind power + PV + energy storage”. Located in Huailai, Hebei, the project has a total installed capacity of 10.99 MW and an annual power generation capacity of 14 million kWh, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 5,000 households. Meanwhile, it reduces carbon emissions by nearly 8,000 tonnes annually and saves electricity costs of over RMB 3.5 million.
The IDC microgrid PV project at Tencent’s Tianjin High-tech Cloud Data Center is the largest in Tianjin. With a total installed capacity of 10.54 MW, it can produce 12 million kWh of zero-carbon green electricity annually, meeting the electricity needs of 6,000 households for a year.
Baidu
As early as 2015, Baidu responded actively to the national energy-saving policy by building a solar PV power generation project at the Baidu Cloud Computing (Yangquan) Center, which was successfully connected to the grid. This was the first IDC PV power generation project in China, ushering in a new era of green energy-saving for data centers.
Baidu has spared no effort in PV construction. In 2023, the 41.76 kWp distributed PV power generation project of Baidu International Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. was successfully connected to the grid. Utilizing about 400 square meters of idle rooftops, the project has an installed capacity of about 41.76 kW and operates in a self-generation and self-consumption mode with excess power sold to the grid. It is expected to generate 41,000 kWh of electricity annually, making it one of the highest-capacity distributed PV projects. In addition, the newly built PV power generation system at Baidu Science Park has a designed total installed capacity of about 1,232 kWp and is estimated to generate about 1.67 million kWh of electricity annually.
Alibaba
Alibaba is one of the world’s renowned internet giants. Its Cainiao logistics parks have reserved about 20,000 mu (about 133.33 hectares) of land nationwide, with an expected rooftop area exceeding 5 million square meters and a usable area of over 4 million square meters. Previously, Alibaba founder Jack Ma has repeatedly called on logistics industry participants to focus on green energy development and support green initiatives, and Cainiao has invested in industrial and commercial rooftop PV systems. On January 4, 2018, the rooftop PV power station at Cainiao’s Zengcheng logistics park in Guangzhou was officially connected to the grid, with an annual power generation capacity of nearly 10 million kWh, equivalent to the power generated by 3,500 tonnes of coal. Using the grid-connection mode of “self-generation and self-consumption with excess power sold to the grid”, from that day on, Cainiao’s Zengcheng logistics park used clean energy from the warehouse rooftops. Soon, more than 10 Cainiao logistics parks across the country also completed grid connection for power generation in 2018.
It is understood that as of the end of 2024, Cainiao had installed PV systems in more than 10 parks in Zhejiang, Anhui, Sichuan, and other provinces, with an installed capacity close to 100 MW.
JD.com
JD.com, currently the largest vertically integrated e-commerce company in China, has a vast self-built logistics system and has built or plans to build logistics parks covering an area of 8 million square meters in 100 major cities in China. JD.com has a natural advantage in developing integrated energy services for these parks.
By the end of 2021, JD.com had completed the installation of PV power generation systems in the first batch of 12 smart industrial parks. The PV power generation unit at the “Asia One” smart industrial park in Jiading, Shanghai, which has been put into operation, consists of 8,600 monocrystalline modules and generates 3.11 million kWh of electricity annually. This green power is used for office lighting in the park during the day, and at night, through a pilot project combining “cars + carports + charging piles + PV,” it can charge electric and new-energy vehicles.
On October 8, 2024, the first batch of 24 MW of the 101 MW distributed PV project, a collaboration between JD Development and JinkoSolar Technology, was successfully delivered and connected to the grid. The project is located in three large parks in Ruian, Yiwu, and Tianjin of JD’s smart industrial parks. The installed capacity of this batch of projects totals 24.23 MW, with an expected annual power generation capacity exceeding 24 million kWh, significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions by over 20,000 tonnes.
In addition, JD Logistics has partnered with Huaxia Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. to provide integrated PV supply chain warehousing and distribution services for Huaxia’s PV business, helping to reduce costs and increase efficiency in the logistics sector. Currently, the cooperation between the two parties covers nine warehouses in eight provinces across the country.
JD.com has announced that by 2030, it will collaborate with partners to build the world’s largest rooftop PV power generation ecosystem. When setting the long-term goal for its intelligent social supply chain over the next decade, JD.com also clearly stated that by 2030, its carbon emissions will be reduced by 50% compared to 2019 levels.
Xiaomi
At the launch of Xiaomi’s SU7, Lei Jun announced that the rooftops of Xiaomi’s automobile factory are covered with PV panels. By deploying a 16.2 MW distributed PV power station covering a total area of 154,579 square meters, the factory is expected to generate an average of about 16.4 million kWh of electricity annually, reducing carbon emissions by about 9,905 tonnes annually. The annual carbon dioxide absorption is equivalent to that of 540,000 trees. Aerial views show that the rooftops of Xiaomi’s automobile factory production workshops are all covered with PV panels, providing stable and continuous power support for the factory’s production operations using green power.
