AsiaElec: China to expand renewables footprint in remote Gobi Desert region

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has announced a series of projects aimed at adding 455 GW of renewable energy to the national grid by 2030.

The majority of the ‘Northern Projects’, as they are being called, are to be located across four main sites in the remote Gobi Desert region of northern China near the border with Mongolia.

Wind, and later solar projects, in the remote, sparsely populated areas in the extreme north and west of the country was first given serious consideration around fifteen years ago, although issues with long-distance transmission of power generated along with infrastructure maintenance have often been cited as insurmountable reasons by many private investors unwilling to commit to such large-scale plans in hard to reach areas.

August, 2009, saw the breaking of ground on the first large-scale solar power station in the region, and by 2015, an estimated 5 GW had been installed in north China’s Gansu region – much of which is taken up by the Gobi – with local government targets in recent years aiming to add 500 MW per year.

The NDRC of late started moving forward with its own development of the area, however, with a November, 2021 announcement, revealing plans for an initial 97 GW of projects in the Gobi.

Those first plans centred on a mix of wind and solar projects to be laid out to take advantage of the Gobi being one of the windiest places in China with over 2,400 hours of sunlight each year.

The NDRC plans have now been enlarged several times over to 455 GW of wind and solar energy capacity, although details remain unconfirmed on the exact breakdown.

Just over 50% of the 455 GW planned will be sited across four largely desert locations in the Badain Jaran, Kubuqi, Tengger and Ulan Buhe areas.

A further 30% of smaller-scale projects will be spread over other sites in and bordering the 1.3mn square kilometre Gobi, including former coal mining areas long considered to be mined out.

The NDRC has further indicated that around 200 GW of the total is now forecast to be brought online and generating electricity by 2025.

Of this, 50 GW will be set aside for local area consumption, with the remaining 150 GW going to the national grid.

Key to the success of the overall project will be effective transmission of energy generated; an issue that has ultimately blighted investment by overseas investors for years, with Japan’s Softbank in the mid-2010s optimistically having promoted plans for massive wind farm projects in the Gobi Desert region, with energy generated to be shipped all the way back to Japan.  

The transmission of power generated over such great distances is an issue China Energy research committee chief Wang Weiquan is all too aware of, with, according to Wang, ultra-high-voltage transmission lines powered by clean-coal power plants the minimum requirement to aid in this goal.

In a missive sent to local media, Wang said that the larger projects, most in the extreme west of China, if properly equipped, will prove the most cost-effective given current issues facing infrastructure construction, later operations and ongoing maintenance.

According to a senior engineer at China International Engineering, Mr. Zhang Jianhong, this will in a knock-on effect then see the smaller, secondary projects primarily sited in the north of China being used to generate capacity to later be distributed to more localised regional population centres currently devoid of access to reliable electricity sources.