Circular agriculture changing livelihoods in rural Shandong

In the county-level city of Rushan, Shandong province, villagers in Nanhuang town are enjoying integrated services they never dreamed of previously — smart greenhouses, green charge piles for vehicles and rooftop solar panels generating power and income.

Three years ago, State Grid Rushan Power Supply Co initiated a drive with Kaoshan village to launch a joint village-grid program to usher in a circular agricultural model.

The unsightly and often tangled and chaotic power lines have since disappeared, replaced with power cables buried underground, said Gu Gaofeng, first secretary dispatched to Kaoshan by the power supplier.

In addition, the villagers' rooftops are now covered with photovoltaic panels, which not only provide houses with electricity, but also extra income, Gu added.

At Sunshine Greenhouse, a low-carbon electrified planting greenhouse and intelligent control breeding demonstration room aided by the power supplier to the village, a warm breeze caresses the tomato and fig seedlings and other lush crops growing within.

"The greenhouse is equipped with an intelligent ground temperature control system," said technician, Xu Peng. "By real-time monitoring and automatically adjusting the temperature through 30 underground sensors, the temperature is maintained at around 20 C, providing a comfortable growing environment for the crops."

To promote the optimized application of electric energy in intelligent planting and breeding in agricultural processing and sales, the State Grid Rushan Power Supply Co has introduced 14 electricity-assisted projects to the village, including smart grain storage drying warehouses and graphite flour processing workshops, driving its circular agriculture towards electric intelligence and low-carbon scalability.

Li Aiguo, the local power supplier's deputy general-manager, said: "The village-grid joint program integrates multiple rural support networks such as electricity, water, gas, heating, postal services, roads and communications, enabling villagers to accomplish multiple tasks in one visit."

Green charge piles have also been installed at places close to villagers' doorsteps, providing them with access to convenient power charging for their electric vehicles.

Plus, to expand the sales channels for villagers' agricultural products, the power supplier has helped them to set up an online shopping mall and livestreaming rooms on Douyin to facilitate their business operations, explained Zhang Jie, Li's colleague.