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

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

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).

By 2024, GWEC expects onshore wind to grow by 100GW of capacity annually, while offshore wind will add more than 25GW in a single year for the first time in 2025, with installations expected to accelerate rapidly after that.

Growth in China, Europe and the US will be the backbone of global onshore wind development in the next five years. Together, they are expected to account for more than 80 per cent of a total of 550GW of additional capacity in the next five years, according to GWEC.

While the long-term outlook is optimistic, offshore installation is facing short-term challenges due to financial troubles in the US and sluggish project approval of offshore projects in China, according to Wood Mackenzie.

The consultancy last week cut by 29GW its previous forecast for global wind power capacity by the end of 2032, downgrading cumulative installed capacity to 2.35 terawatts. China accounted for 12GW of that cut because of tightened permit requirements and project cancellations, Wood Mackenzie said.

The consultancy did not adjust its outlook for China’s onshore wind segment from 2026 to 2032, adding that it will drive global onshore wind installation over the period.

“Long-term market fundamentals remain strong globally despite near-term challenges in project execution in China and offshore market maturation in the US,” said Luke Lewandowski, vice-president of global renewables research at Wood Mackenzie.

China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, announced early last year the country plans to build 450GW of solar and wind power generation capacity in the Gobi and other desert regions as part of the efforts to boost renewable power use and China’s 2060 net-zero goals.