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Business of climate change
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China spins up world’s largest onshore wind-power facility in Inner Mongolia, as it leads Europe and US in deployment

  • The project’s 701 turbines can generate more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, equal to nearly 3 million tonnes of coal
  • China, Europe and the US will drive onshore wind development in the next five years, while offshore projects face near-term challenges: forecasters

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Wind turbines operate in Yilan County, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, on on December 5, 2023. Photo: Xinhua
Yujie Xue

China’s largest onshore wind-power facility started full-capacity operations in the northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Sunday, according to its operator, state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC).

With a capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW), the project’s 701 turbines can generate more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, according to the company. This is equivalent to cutting standard coal consumption by about 2.96 million metric tonnes and avoiding around 8.02 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

The project, which started construction in 2020, is also the first in a batch of renewable energy projects targeted for the desert region, according to state news agency Xinhua.

China is the world’s largest wind power producer, adding 40GW of net capacity in 2022, more than half of the 77.6GW added worldwide in the same time frame, according to the International Energy Agency. Onshore installations accounted for 68.8GW of the capacity added worldwide last year, with China contributing 52 per cent of that.

Wind turbine blades await transport at a port in Yancheng, east China’s Jiangsu Province, on September 8, 2023. Photo: Xinhua
Wind turbine blades await transport at a port in Yancheng, east China’s Jiangsu Province, on September 8, 2023. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese President Xi Jinping has set a target of bringing China’s total wind and solar capacity to at least 1,200GW by 2030, the year China plans to peak its carbon emissions.

The country is also the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturing base, accounting for around 60 per cent of the global wind turbine manufacturing capacity in 2023, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

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