The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently announced that Chinese authorities plan to build the world’s largest renewable power generation park in the Gobi Desert region.
Thanks to solar and wind energy, the facility will offer an installed capacity of 450 GW. The project is a part of China’s plan to generate up to 1.2 TW of green electricity per year by 2030.
On a global scale, Beijing dominates energy production from renewable sources. At the end of 2020, the installed capacity in China generated about 895 GW, which is more than that of the European Union, the US, and Australia combined.
While countries worldwide are declaring plans for the “green agenda”, China is already implementing it. The Gobi desert project will add about half a terawatt to China’s existing capacity.
About 100 GW of new capacity is already under construction, although it is unclear whether the project will include wind generation or solar power.
Currently, China primarily relies on electricity production from coal-fired power plants. However, the installed capacity of solar and wind power plants in total has already approached 43.5% of the total installed capacity in the country.
However, the production instability from renewable sources leads to the share of “green” energy in the country’s energy balance being only about 26%. Chinese media point out that nuclear power plants will help smooth out jumps in production.
The Asian nation also intends to increase the fleet of nuclear power plants significantly. Over the next 15 years, China wants to build or begin the construction of up to 150 new nuclear power plants.