A drone photo taken on April 24, 2025 shows staff members checking power transmission lines of an ultra-high voltage (UHV) direct current transmission project linking Xinjiang with southwest China's Chongqing, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

In China, the world's largest electricity consumer, one in every three kilowatt-hours of electricity comes from green energy sources, powering daily life while reshaping the national and global energy and industrial landscapes.

Northwestern Chinese regions like Qinghai, Xinjiang and Ningxia have turned their sunbaked, wind-swept deserts into treasure troves of green power. These areas boast abundant solar and wind resources, alongside low land costs.

Power from desert and sea 

Minning, a town in Ningxia, was once an impoverished area on the edge of the Gobi Desert. It is now a round-the-clock green energy demonstration zone.

It generates over 550 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity annually, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 188,300 tonnes, according to Mao Zhiyuan, deputy head of the township's power supply station.

"During peak daylight hours, new energy storage facilities store surplus electricity from photovoltaic (PV) panels. At night, wind power and stored energy take over," Mao explained.

The township's green electricity now fuels food processing, garment production, and heating for over 11,000 households during the cold winters. Minning's practices are a window into Ningxia's rapidly growing new energy sector, and into the tangible benefits it is bringing its residents.

From Jan. 1, 2026, the cost of electricity for home heating during the non-peak hours in Ningxia will be set at approximately 0.25 yuan (about 3.5 U.S. cents) per kilowatt-hour, according to the Ningxia Development and Reform Commission. That is much lower than that in the EU.

"Over a decade ago, we relied mainly on stoves for heat. Now, with clean heating, we no longer fret about costs," said Yang Zhihe, a Minning resident.

Coastal provinces like Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong are scaling up offshore wind power clusters to meet high electricity demand, slashing infrastructure and transmission expenses.

These economic hubs are also tapping distributed solar power. Such power systems installed in or near industrial parks supply direct green energy, delivering clear cost and environmental advantages.

Renewable energy system 

Yao Shangheng, a researcher at the Energy Development Research Institute under China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., said that China has built the world's largest and most integrated renewable energy system, with complete industrial chains. Its output of PV polysilicon, wafers and cells account for 90 percent of the global total, with its module output accounting for about 85 percent of the global total.

Building on this industrial foundation, China is also spearheading cutting-edge technology. Recently, a Shanghai start-up announced a breakthrough in creating sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

Using high-performance catalysts, the method converts carbon dioxide and green hydrogen produced from water electrolysis into liquid fuels, primarily hydrocarbons.

Song Xuefeng, the project's manager and vice president of Shanghai Airport (Group) Co., Ltd., said the one-stop synthesis process consumes less energy than alternatives. "Electrolysis can tap low-cost wind and solar power in northwest China to yield high-value, storable and transportable clean fuels," he noted.

China is also actively sharing its expertise globally. In a monthlong project that concluded on Tuesday, 10 power engineers from six other countries, including the United Kingdom and Peru, visited cutting-edge power grid technologies in Guangdong, and learned about China's latest practices in advancing energy transition.

Kovica Bibic from Serbia said he had been impressed by China's power system equipped with the Internet of Things (IoT), and that the interconnectivity of different types and brands of power equipment enables interoperability among vast data streams.

"It is like giving the grid a nerve center. We hope to adopt it and help Serbia better address grid instability factors," he said.