Cai et al. (2026) Deep Learning-Based Monitoring of Photovoltaic Power Plant Expansion and Assessment of Albedo-Driven Shortwave Energy Changes

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Identification

• Journal: Remote Sensing
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-16
• Authors: Hu Zhang, Jingtian Pu, Lei Cui, Zimeng Yan, Qiong Wu, Jiawen Chen, Peng Guo
• DOI: 10.3390/rs18183183

Research Groups

• Institute of Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University
• State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University

Short Summary

This study develops a framework for assessing photovoltaic (PV) expansion-induced land-cover changes and surface property variations in arid desert regions. The results show that PV expansion leads to decreased surface albedo and associated shortwave energy changes.

Objective

• Investigate the impact of large-scale PV power plants on land-cover transitions and surface properties in arid desert regions

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional (Talatan region, Xinjiang)
• Temporal Scale: 2021-2025

Methodology and Data

• Models used: SegFormer for semantic segmentation of PV areas
• Data sources: Sentinel-2 imagery, MODIS Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) prior parameters

Main Results

• PV-covered area in the Talatan region expanded from 160.35 km2 to 303.26 km2 between 2021 and 2025
• Surface albedo decreased by 0.0391 and 0.0310 during 2021–2023 and 2023–2025, respectively, corresponding to local albedo-driven shortwave energy changes of 27.12 W·m−2 and 23.55 W·m−2

Contributions

• This study provides an integrated framework for characterizing PV expansion-induced land-cover changes and associated surface property variations in arid regions.
• The results offer an observation-based assessment of local shortwave energy variations related to surface albedo changes.

Funding

• National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42141001)
• Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (Grant No. Z201100006420020)

Citation

@article{Cai2026Deep,
  author = {Cai, Yongzhen and Zhang, Hu and Pu, Jingtian and Cui, Lei and Yan, Zimeng and Wu, Qiong and Chen, Jiawen and Guo, Peng},
  title = {Deep Learning-Based Monitoring of Photovoltaic Power Plant Expansion and Assessment of Albedo-Driven Shortwave Energy Changes},
  journal = {Remote Sensing},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/rs18183183},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18183183}
}