Abstract: Qinghai Province has excellent solar resources and vast resources of decertified land, providing an ideal condition for large-scale development of solar photovoltaic power. This paper describes a new concept, virtual hydropower, that was aimed at large-scale development of photovoltaic power in Qinghai and ecological protection of the plateau regions in China. In this concept, a photovoltaic power plant is used as an additional unit of a hydropower station that rapidly adjusts its generating units and compensates for fluctuations in the photovoltaic power output so as to achieve an optimized total power output. Besides, studies were carried out on the impact of photovoltaic power plants on the regional ecological systems and on the cultivation of economic crops. Thus, progress has been made in using photovoltaic power plants to improve the ecological environment in the plateau regions.