[Assessment of carbon reduction and sink enhancement potential of photovoltaic+mining ecological restoration model].

Abstract

The energy oriented mine ecological restoration mode of photovoltaic+ecological restoration provides a breakthrough for alleviating the dilemma of photovoltaic land development and solving the urgent need for restoration of abandoned mining land. Taking a mining area in central Liaoning Province as an example, we established three photovoltaic+mining ecological restoration modes, including forest-photovoltaic complementary, agriculture-photovoltaic, and grass photovoltaic complementation. Combined with the life cycle assessment method, we calculated and assessed the potential of photovoltaic+mining ecological restoration in carbon reduction and sink enhancement. The average annual carbon reduction and sink increase was 514.93 t CO₂·hm^-2 under the photovoltaic+mining ecological restoration mode, while the average annual carbon reduction per megawatt photovoltaic power station was 1242.94 t CO₂. The adoption of photovoltaic+ecological restoration mode in this mining area could make carbon reduction and sink enhancement 6.30-7.79 Mt CO₂ during 25 years. The carbon reduction and sink increment mainly stemmed from the photovoltaic clean power generation induced carbon reduction, accounting for 96.4%-99.4%, while the contribution of ecosystem carbon sink increment was small, accounting for only 0.6%-3.7% of the total. Among different photovoltaic+ecological restoration modes, the carbon reduction and sink increment was the largest in forest-photovoltaic complementary (7.11 Mt CO₂), followed by agriculture-photovoltaic (7.04 Mt CO₂), and the least in grass photovoltaic complementation (6.98 Mt CO₂). Constructing the development mode of "photovoltaic+mining ecological restoration" could effectively leverage the dual benefits of reducing emissions from photovoltaic power generation and increase sinks from mining ecological restoration, which would be helpful for achieving the goal of carbon neutrality in China.