- Local authorities say Ordos in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region is advancing an ambitious initiative known as the “Solar Great Wall.”
- The Ordos energy administration said the project launched earlier this year, with a total installed capacity of 100 million kilowatts, is expected to generate roughly 180 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year by 2030 when it is completed.
Local authorities say Ordos in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region is advancing an ambitious initiative known as the “Solar Great Wall.” The project aims to combine the development of renewable energy with efforts to combat desertification.
This gargantuan project, spanning 400 kilometers in length with an average width of 5 km, not only promises to supply sustainable electricity to Beijing and its surrounding area, but also stands to make a substantial contribution to the preservation of the Yellow River, a mother river of the Chinese nation.
The Ordos energy administration said the project launched earlier this year, with a total installed capacity of 100 million kilowatts, is expected to generate roughly 180 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year by 2030 when it is completed.
For reference as to how much energy that actually is, last year Beijing consumed 135.8 billion kWh of electricity.
Located on the south bank of the Yellow River and the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert, the seventh-largest desert in China, the project will also help prevent soil erosion and thus reduce sediment entering the Yellow River. The administration added that it will help treat almost 27 million hectares of desert.
China is the world’s leader in electricity production from renewable energy sources, with over triple the generation of the second-ranking country, the United States. China’s renewable energy sector is growing faster than its fossil fuels and nuclear power capacity and is expected to contribute 43 per cent of global renewable capacity growth.
China’s total renewable energy capacity exceeded 1,000 GW in 2021, accounting for 43.5 per cent of the country’s total power generation capacity, 10.2 percentage points higher than in 2015.
The country aims to have 80 per cent of its total energy mix come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2060 and achieve a combined 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity by 2030. In 2023, it was reported that China was on track to reach 1,371 gigawatts of wind and solar by 2025, five years ahead of target due to new renewables installations breaking records.