The figure of Mount Everest is known all over the world. Majestic, the largest, practically unreachable, the top of the world. But like everything natural, humans cannot keep their hands off it. In an attempt to take a step further towards energy transition, China is the protagonist of this recent event. A decision that has gone beyond tourism or engineering, impacting sustainability, technology, and even geopolitics.
In collaboration with AIKO N and Huawei Digital Power, China has installed a 150 kW solar station in the Everest National Park, at an altitude of 4,300 meters. Equipped with bifacial panels, the installation has had effects on sustainable tourism, caused a symbolic reconfiguration, and generated considerable international pressure. With this precedent, experts are already looking for other ‘impossible’ places to establish the fight for clean and renewable energy.
Mount Everest
Who doesn’t know Mount Everest? Located in the Himalayas, in Asia, it is the highest mountain on the planet. With a height of 8,848.86 meters above sea level, reaching its summit is the dream of any climber. However, it presents many difficulties such as extreme cold, thin air, intense solar radiation, and unpredictable terrain that changes with every step. Unfortunately, there have been several brave climbers who have fallen by the wayside, but it is worth noting that the first to reach its summit were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, in May 1953.
Race to Achieve Sustainability
One of the main races that different countries face is to achieve energy independence with a transition to clean and renewable energies. This is why the investment in this type of research and technology is increasing. This is the case of China, which could be said to be leading the race. One of its latest decisions in this regard has put the planet in jeopardy. It is not entirely clear whether to consider it a tourist, technological, geopolitical, or sustainable move, because it encompasses all these aspects.
Solar energy from Mount Everest
China has taken a step further. Against all odds and despite all the difficulties it presents, it has installed a solar station in the Everest National Park. At a height of 4,300 meters, there is a 150 kW facility equipped with bifacial panels. For this, it has relied on the structure of AIKO N and the liquid cooling technology from Huawei Digital Power.
Everest’s New Role in Global Competition
Carrying out that installation has not been an easy task. Transporting heavy equipment, lack of oxygen, unpredictable weather, were just some of the problems. As declared by a spokesman for AIKO N, “Each phase required surgical planning. Nothing could be improvised on a mountain that challenges even professional climbers.” This operation has also had a series of other repercussions: Sustainable tourism.
With this service, the experience for more than a million annual tourists will be less harmful to the environment. International pressure. With this gesture, China forces the rest of the powers to imitate the behavior, seeking other remote and extreme locations. Symbolic reconfiguration. Everest becomes a target of technological disputes.
Mount Everest is the limit
If clean energy can be produced at the heights of the tallest mountain on Earth, where will it not be possible? With the Chinese precedent as a base, it sets the stage for other powers to explore deserts or polar regions in search of the most extreme site. While until recently the limits for developing clean energy infrastructures were geography, from now on, they will also be visionaries.