China starts building its largest photovoltaic power base in desert
Author: Cao Qingqing
China plans to build 450 GW of solar and wind power generation capacity on the Gobi and other desert regions, He Lifeng, director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, said on the sidelines of the National People's Congress in March. The country pledged to cap its carbon emission to a peak by 2030, and realize carbon neutrality by 2060. To achieve the goals, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged at the UN Climate Change Summit in 2020 to boost the country's installed capacity of wind and solar power to over 1,200 GW by 2030, and increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25 percent during the same period. By the end of 2021, the country had installed 306 GW of solar power capacity and 328 GW of wind capacity, according to data from the National Energy Administration.