On July 27, 2021, Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, China. China's first 100 megawatt molten salt tower photothermal power plant is working. This is a 100 MW molten salt tower type photothermal power station with the largest concentration scale, the highest heat absorption tower, the largest heat storage tank and 24-hour continuous power generation in the world. Photo Credit: Jia Yu/Getty Images
Environment ChinaSolar and Wind Farms… in the Desert!
Determined to meet its climate change goals and to boost renewable power use, China will turn the Gobi and other desert areas into massive solar and wind farms, aiming at producing no less than 1,200 GW and capping its carbon emissions by 2030.
“China is going to build the biggest scale of solar and wind power generation capacity on the Gobi and desert in history, at 450 GW,” says He Lifeng, director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
In 2021, China installed 328 GW of wind capacity and 306 GW of solar power capacity. The construction of an additional 100 GW of solar power capacity is underway. According to the NDRC’s plan for 2022, China will “continue to leverage the peak-shaving and basic supporting role of traditional energy, especially coal and coal-fired power.”
