{"id":9154,"date":"2024-01-30T08:17:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/?p=9154"},"modified":"2024-01-29T11:56:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T16:56:44","slug":"chinas-massive-desert-project-is-about-to-change-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/chinas-massive-desert-project-is-about-to-change-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s MASSIVE Desert Project Is About To Change The World"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the biggest solar plant in the United States, located in Kern, California. The Solar Star Plant is over 8 square miles and has a generation capacity of 579 megawatts, powering around 255,000 homes.1<\/a><\/sup> This is impressive, but about 6,500 miles away, in this remote desert, there’s a solar facility that could dwarf it \u2026 and just about every other solar plant on earth. And it\u2019s not alone.<\/p>\n

Look at this big thing!<\/h2>\n

Like many deserts, China\u2019s Kubuqi desert enjoys persistent but predictable winds and around 280 days of scorching sunshine every year. This makes it a challenging place to live, farm or do just about anything else, but it makes it perfect for solar and wind generation. That\u2019s exactly what China is doing. 2<\/a><\/sup> This is the Kubuqi Renewables Base. It\u2019s roughly the size of 20 Central Parks, and when fully operational, it will supply 16 gigawatts to well over a million homes.3<\/a><\/sup>4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Kubuqi is impressive, but it\u2019s just the centerpiece in a vast network of around 225 bases being built across China\u2019s western and northern deserts. Kubuqi and its sister projects are well on track to have a generational capacity of 455 gigawatts(GW), 60% of which will be solar and the other 40% will be wind. That\u2019s staggering \u2014 to put it into perspective, that’s more clean energy generation capacity than is currently available in any nation outside China. A system that large could almost cover India\u2019s current energy needs by itself.3<\/a><\/sup> 455 GW is equal to the combined green energy generation of the the United Kingdom, Australia and Indonesia, plus the total power capacity of Brazil.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

These bases are all due to come online within the next year or two. That means China could dwarf the world\u2019s current renewable generation capabilities, but how has the world\u2019s current biggest polluter turned into green energy\u2019s biggest champion?<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

How and why this is possible<\/h2>\n

Remember this? We\u2019re back in the desert. You probably already know that deserts are great for renewable energy generation. Can\u2019t have a solar farm without sun \u2026 and deserts have a lot of sun. Likewise wind farms need wind, and the broad, warm, flat expanses of desert make for reliable wind currents and predictable power generation.<\/p>\n

That all makes sense, but I\u2019ve been a little deceptive. I haven\u2019t shown you a single shot of the Kubuqi desert just now. These are from the Ulan Buh, Tengger, and Badain Jaran deserts, which are all also in China. It just so happens that over a fifth of China\u2019s landmass is desert, and it\u2019s one of the largest countries in the world.5<\/a><\/sup> What I\u2019m trying to say is China has a lot of room to work with, and as we mentioned earlier, deserts aren\u2019t exactly valuable territory. So, the nation has leveraged the cheap real estate and surplus of sand to acquire huge tracts of land that it’s actively turning into these massive renewable bases. This helps drive down the price of solar and wind power.6<\/a><\/sup>3<\/a><\/sup> China has the resources and space to build a lot of cheap solar and wind energy, but there\u2019s a more obvious factor at play here too.<\/p>\n

Back in the 90\u2019s, China saw a financial opportunity in serving Germany\u2019s growing demand for solar panels. Thanks to nearby raw materials and the structure of its supply chain, China was able to produce a ton of affordable solar panels.7<\/a><\/sup> Other solar companies around the world didn\u2019t like the government subsidies and incentives the Chinese government was leveraging. In response, many countries imposed tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels in the 2000s. However, China was able to pivot and grow its own domestic renewables program. This drove domestic demand for solar panels and turbines. As Chinese economic and industrial power grew, demand for renewables grew right alongside it.8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

So how did China build their renewable energy bases? Cheap access to a lot of green technology, lots of manufacturing power, and lots of land ideal for solar and wind generation. But how<\/em> China is able to build these massive renewable energy bases isn\u2019t as interesting as why<\/em> China is rapidly building these bases.<\/p>\n

This is a big reason why China is going so big on renewables. This is Beijing in 2021, one of the biggest cities in one of the most powerful countries on Earth \u2026 and it\u2019s facing a crippling blackout. And this wasn\u2019t the only blackout. Why? That year the world faced a coal shortage due in part to the ongoing pandemic. More than half of China\u2019s energy comes from coal, which meant that the shortage forced parts of China to go dark.9<\/a><\/sup> Droughts also meant hydroelectric plants were struggling to keep up with demand.10<\/a><\/sup> As you can imagine, that was bad for both Chinese citizens and the country\u2019s economy at large.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s this. Here, again, is Beijing and it\u2019s not out of power this time. It\u2019s just covered in a thick, toxic cloud. Industry isn\u2019t clean. It needs a lot of power and the fastest and easiest way to get power is the Dark Side (I mean fossil fuels). And if China\u2019s massive industrial sector wasn\u2019t power-hungry enough, they also have a massive population that needs electricity too. Most of which, again, comes from fossil fuels, which results in pollution like this.11<\/a><\/sup> Not the kind of imagery an ascendant global power wants to project.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re on the subject of fossil fuels, China is the world\u2019s second-largest consumer of oil. They burned through over 13 million barrels per day in 2023,12<\/a><\/sup> while only producing around 4 million.13<\/a><\/sup> Including strategic reserves, this had led China to import around 11.4 million barrels of oil per day in 2023, which comes with a hefty price tag.14<\/a><\/sup> Sure would be great if they weren\u2019t reliant on others for their energy needs. I think you can see where I\u2019m going with this.<\/p>\n

So why is China adding 455 GW of renewable energy? Lots of economic reasons, protecting the health of their citizens, energy independence, and international prestige to name a few. Gosh, it\u2019s almost like there\u2019s just a lot of benefits to green infrastructure. And if it\u2019s possible for this massive polluter to turn around, can other countries do it too? Are there lessons we can learn from China? And what does such a massive jump in green energy generation mean for the rest of the world?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What\u2019s this mean for the world?<\/h2>\n

The installation of bases like the one in Kubuqi has analysts, like those from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), all but guaranteeing that Chinese emissions and fossil fuel use will not only fall next year, but enter \u201cinto an extended period of structural decline.\u201d15<\/a><\/sup> This is due not just to these bases coming online, but the growth of other greentech industries in China, like renewable batteries and electric vehicles. China is now hitting their 2030 reduced emissions goal five years ahead of schedule. This gives me hope that they\u2019ll be able to hit their zero-emissions goal in 2060 as well.3<\/a><\/sup>15<\/a><\/sup> If one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels can do it, then the rest of us can too, right?<\/p>\n

More immediately, all these plants coming online should mean less polluted air not just for China, but its neighboring countries \u2026 and maybe more. If China continues to build these facilities, and the technology continues to improve, there are opportunities for these neighbors to buy surplus clean energy from China. Countries like Mongolia that are currently China\u2019s major coal sources are acutely aware of China\u2019s greenification. They\u2019re trying to find alternative ways to generate energy and income as coal demand collapses.16<\/a><\/sup> Mongolia shares the Gobi desert with China and their side of the Gobi is just as capable of generating that amazing solar and wind energy. There’s an opportunity here for China to export not just the energy, but the energy generation expertise and materiel to these neighbors. It\u2019s flipping the script \u2026 but these opportunities aren\u2019t just limited to China\u2019s neighbors.<\/p>\n

Since 2013, China has been making economic and literal inroads to much of the world (especially the global south) with its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). It\u2019s like China\u2019s attempt to make a sort of neo-Silk Road.\u201917<\/a><\/sup> Basically, China builds up these countries\u2019 infrastructure in exchange for favorable access to their natural resources. Under the BRI, China can potentially build up the green infrastructure of these countries too. Though I have to point out that the BRI is controversial. Proponents and the World Bank have noted that BRI involvement can raise a country\u2019s GDP by upwards of 4%. It can also boost the world\u2019s economy and gives these countries access to infrastructure development that, in many cases, wouldn\u2019t normally be available to them.18<\/a><\/sup>19<\/a><\/sup> Detractors have called it a form of neocolonialism, and have cited instances where the program negatively impacted the local environment, involved displacing native peoples, and even some gnarly human rights abuses.17<\/a><\/sup>20<\/a><\/sup> Again, not a geopolitics channel, so I\u2019m not gonna get into it … BUT \u2026 it brings up a good point.<\/p>\n

China is a global power on the ascent, and I\u2019m not suggesting they\u2019ll bestow this energy or technology on their neighbors or allies simply out of the goodness of their heart. Surely there will be some serious economic and political strings attached. Is that trade worth it for improved infrastructure and access to green technology? It’s a complicated issue, and it\u2019s not really for me to decide. I guess you could say I\u2019m living up to the name of the channel on that point.<\/p>\n

All of this assumes that what China is doing at home is replicable elsewhere, which is certainly not always going to be the case. Heck, even China is facing some serious problems. Check this out. Notice an issue? How about now? Most of the renewable bases are in those far less populated desert regions in the west while some of China\u2019s biggest cities are on the east coast. It\u2019s difficult to get all that power from point A to a very distant point B without losing a lot in the process. China is actively tackling this issue by developing ultra high voltage power lines.3<\/a><\/sup> However, for the time being they\u2019re actually generating more renewable energy than they can use, which is leading to curtailment. All the clean energy generation in the world doesn\u2019t mean much if it’s not actually replacing fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s lessons to learn here. My home country of the United States recently passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which directs $500 billion in federal spending and tax breaks toward, unsurprisingly, reducing inflation. Over half of that allotment is intended to go toward clean energy with another nearly $50 billion going toward manufacturing.21<\/a><\/sup>22<\/a><\/sup> Though no one can really match China\u2019s manufacturing power, we are not too far behind here in the US. Our western and northern regions are home to deserts and grasslands ripe for solar and wind energy. We have our own installations in many of these places already, and I\u2019m glad the IRA seems to have learned from China\u2019s economic incentives, but I hope we go further, and create our own fully fledged clean energy bases. Having everything from mining resources to manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries here in the US could drop costs and accelerate our adoption \u2026 and give us a tremendous amount of energy security.<\/p>\n

No bones about it, this is an amazing step in the right direction. And unlike a lot of stuff in the greentech space, the Kubuqi clean energy base isn\u2019t a work of futurology or the pitch of an exciting startup. It\u2019s real, it’s working right now, and it’s getting bigger. It has a bunch of sibling bases all coming online in the next few years. China\u2019s basically doubling the world\u2019s renewable generation overnight? What\u2019s not to like?<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s not an unalloyed good or success. China\u2019s emissions levels have continued to rise, and they\u2019re still building coal plants to supplement the intermittent power of their renewable bases. After a post COVID rebound in CO2 output during 2023, some estimates are showing that China may have hit peak carbon. 2024 and beyond shows declining numbers \u2026 but building and permitting more coal plants in 2023 and beyond feels like two steps forward and one step back.3<\/a><\/sup>15<\/a><\/sup> As we\u2019ve seen in places like Germany, even methodical, well-planned attempts to entirely phase out coal by 2030 have been scrapped in light of unforeseen geopolitics and energy crises.23<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

China already accounts for half the world\u2019s coal consumption, so it’s worrying to see their government constructing even more coal plants.24<\/a><\/sup> As some analysts have warned, there\u2019s a fight brewing in China between renewables stakeholders, and fossil fuels stakeholders.15<\/a><\/sup> It\u2019s a familiar fight we\u2019re seeing everywhere around the world. I can only hope that renewables will win \u2014 and do what I can back home.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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  1. The Solar Star Legacy: What Used to Be the World\u2019s Largest Solar Farm<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Neue Z\u00fcrcher Zeitung – The world’s largest desert solar power plant is being built in northern China<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Bloomberg – China\u2019s Remote Deserts Are Hiding an Energy Revolution<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Bloomberg – China Starts Work on Huge $11 Billion Desert Renewables Project<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. New York Times – Living In China\u2019s Expanding Deserts<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Independent – China transforms extreme frontier to energy hub<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Harvard, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies How China is Winning the Race for Clean Energy Technology<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Reuters – The numbers behind China’s renewable energy boom<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. BBC – China power cuts: What is causing the country’s blackouts?<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  10. Nikkei Asia – Sichuan’s rolling blackouts pose litmus test for China economy<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  11. Here’s where most of China’s toxic cloud of smog comes from<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  12. CleanTechnica – China\u2019s Oil & Gas Giant Sinopec Says Peak Oil Demand Already Happened In China<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  13. Reuters – China oil output growth to slow in 2024 as supply harder to extract<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  14. EIA – China imported record volumes of crude oil in the first half of 2023<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  15. Carbon Brief – Analysis: China\u2019s emissions set to fall in 2024 after record growth in clean energy<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  16. Mongolia Weekly – China’s Renewable Energy Boom Casts a Long Shadow over Mongolia<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  17. Council on Foreign Relations – China\u2019s Massive Belt and Road Initiative<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  18. World Bank – Belt and Road Initiative<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  19. Center for Economic and Business Research – Belt and Road Initiative to boost world GDP by over $7 trillion per annum by 2040<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  20. Wikipedia – Belt and Road Initiative<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  21. McKinsey & Co. – The Inflation Reduction Act: Here\u2019s what\u2019s in it<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  22. Wikipedia – Inflation Reduction Act<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  23. Energy crisis fuels coal comeback in Germany<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n
  24. The Guardian – China on course to hit wind and solar power target five years ahead of time<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This is the biggest solar plant in the United States, located in Kern, California. The Solar Star Plant is over 8 square miles and has a generation capacity of 579 megawatts, powering around 255,000 homes.1 This is impressive, but about 6,500 miles away, in this remote desert, there’s a solar facility that could dwarf it \u2026 and just about every other solar plant on earth. And it\u2019s not alone. Look at this big thing! Like many deserts, China\u2019s Kubuqi desert enjoys persistent but predictable winds and around 280 days of scorching sunshine every year. This makes it a challenging place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[249],"tags":[30,24,29],"ppma_author":[303,310],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Featured-2.jpg","authors":[{"term_id":303,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"matt","display_name":"Matt Ferrell","avatar_url":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/portrait-small.png","last_name":"Ferrell","user_url":"https:\/\/wordpressmu-787287-2686879.cloudwaysapps.com","first_name":"Matt","description":"Matt Ferrell lives in the Boston area and is a UI\/UX designer by trade, but has always been obsessed by technology and how it works. In 2018 he started his YouTube channel, Undecided with Matt Ferrell, where he explores sustainable and smart technologies like EVs, solar panels, and smart homes."},{"term_id":310,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"jon-okun","display_name":"Jon Okun","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Jon-Okun.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Jon-Okun.jpg"},"last_name":"Okun","user_url":"","first_name":"Jon","description":"Jon Okun (he\/him) is a writer and researcher based in Seattle, Washington. He's previously worked for the Middle East Institute and the CleanTech Alliance, as well NBC's The End is Nye. He enjoys birdwatching with his partner."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9154"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9183,"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154\/revisions\/9183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9154"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undecidedmf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}