Tourists in Wuhan, China, are carving turns on snow in the middle of summer, thanks to a vast indoor ski resort powered increasingly by its own solar energy. Wuhan Chengjian Bonski, the largest facility of its kind in Central China, keeps its 1‑million‑cubic‑meter interior at –6 C even as outdoor temperatures approach 40 C.

That cooling load is immense: the resort consumes up to 70,000 kilowatt‑hours of electricity per day, comparable to the usage of 7,000 households, with refrigeration, snowmaking, lifts and dehumidifiers running continuously.

To curb the environmental cost of year‑round operations, the venue has installed a 45,800‑square‑meter photovoltaic array across its roof. The system delivers a peak output of 25,000 kWh per day, feeding clean electricity directly into the refrigeration units. Engineers say the timing is ideal—solar generation surges during midday, precisely when cooling demand is highest, significantly improving energy‑use efficiency.

The resort has paired the solar rollout with further upgrades: an intelligent control system that adjusts snowmaking in real time, a 24‑centimeter insulation layer to reduce thermal loss, and full LED lighting that cuts consumption by more than 10 percent. Nearly 30 percent of the resort’s power now comes from on‑site solar, saving over 250,000 yuan monthly and reinvested into slope maintenance and visitor services.