Bradley Gardner

It’s an unexpected sight. High in the mountains in rural Yunnan Province, two hours’ drive from the nearest town along windy, pot-holed roads, a small solar power station stands in the middle of a muddy field.

Thanks to a joint scheme by the German and Chinese governments, small solar power plants are springing up across China’s vast countryside. The scheme aims to bring clean, renewable energy to Chinese citizens living in areas so remote that previously they were not connected to the ......lar still needs to achieve a price breakthrough before it can become a large-scale solution for millions of households across not just China, but the developing world as a whole.

But the experiences of the villagers in Luoshuidong and Wudingshi shows that the technology may be closer than we think to finally changing the world.