China inaugurates massive solar and wind power base in desert – RT Business News

A massive renewable energy project worth more than $11 billion kicked off construction in China’s seventh-largest desert in Inner Mongolia province on Wednesday. The project is part of the country’s ambitious clean energy program.

The solar and wind power base with an overall installed capacity of 16 million kW will be the world’s largest renewable power generation facility of its kind in a desert area, according to the construction company. It will combine solar, wind and improved coal power to produce 40 billion kWh of electricity per year for Beijing and the provinces of Tianjin and Hebei.

The project in the Kubuqi desert will be developed by the China Three Gorges Corporation and Inner Mongolia Energy Group. According to Chinese media, the desert is already home to the country’s largest solar power plant comprising 196,000 panels which has generated 2.3 billion kWh, equivalent to 760,000 tonnes of standard coal.

The company did not specify the timeline for construction, saying the first phase will include one gigawatt of solar capacity equipped with energy storage.

China has significant wind and solar power generation capacity and the clean energy base is part of the country’s ambitious investment program to generate a total of 450 gigawatts of renewable energy in its vast desert areas.

Beijing plans to generate 33% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025 to reduce carbon emissions, and is already moving closer to that goal, with clean energy generation reaching 29.4% last year .

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