Authors: Wang Zhifeng and Zhao Tianyu (Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Wang Fan (Lanzhou University of Technology)
Autumn descends upon the CSP research base in Yanqing, Beijing. The vast sky stretches clear and azure; the autumn breeze blows gentle and mild, and all is serene and beautiful. The maple grove at the base, nurtured over eight years, has taken root in the open wilderness, standing quietly beside the five-ring solar tower. Silently it gathers the warmth of the boundless sun, slowly suffusing its leaves with shades of crimson.
While red leaves fall and scatter on the mountainsides, these maples—companions of the solar base's growth—enjoy a gift of sunlight all their own. In the distance, the heliostat array tracks the sun's every move, converging the blazing rays onto the solar tower and transforming them into clean energy. The overflow of soft light spills into the grove, quietly nourishing branch and leaf—as if the earth were gently breathing in the river of stars, feeding every sliver of sunlight to the red leaves on the boughs.
Through the accumulation of eight years of cold winters and warm summers, the maple grove has shed its youthful greenness. Layers of leaves interweave—azure-green, golden-yellow, and vermillion-red—glowing vivid and translucent against the clear blue sky. The autumn breeze sweeps beneath the azure canopy, and the red leaves tremble and sway, their veins brimming with the warmth of stored sunlight—alive, radiant, a painting in themselves.
Here, a towering, quietly standing solar concentration tower and a grove of sun-facing North American red maples meet in tender harmony. The tall tower gathers concentrated light and bestows energy—a testament to humanity's technological quest for the sun; the maple grove absorbs the gentle light and dyes the autumn hues—a natural poetry nurtured by the passage of time. Through eight years of dedicated cultivation, the trees stand toward the sun and grow year after year, finally repaying the ever-present blazing sun with a whole grove of crimson.
The daylight is clear and luminous; the autumn mood lingers long. Eight years have settled into original aspiration; ten thousand acres of warm sunlight have carved out the autumn scenery. These red leaves—absorbing the essence of sun and moon, carrying the tenderness of the years—are the most moving autumn sight of the solar power station, and the most beautiful testament to the symbiosis of technology and nature.