The high altitude, long sunshine hours and vast swathes of cheap, unused land make the region an ideal location for big solar farms, the kind that appeal to investors eyeing showcase clean-energy projects and attractive returns.

In 2011, Qinghai added 1GW of new solar. This year, the provincial government has given the go-ahead for another gigawatt.

Companies of all kinds — from telecoms to property investors, as well as China’s “big five” power groups — fought for permits issued this year to build projects in the province, and are keen to start construction in case Beijing reduces its solar feed-in tariffs in 2013.

But