China Connects Biggest Desert Solar Plant in Effort to Curb Coal

(Bloomberg) -- China connected one of the world’s largest ever solar projects in an effort to curb coal consumption and reign in emissions.

The 4-gigawatt facility, located in the southeastern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, was linked to the grid on Wednesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported Thursday without citing a source. This project alone is nearly the size of Canada’s entire solar capacity, according to BloombergNEF data.

This solar project is so far the biggest piece of an ambitious plan by the Chinese government to build 455 gigawatts of renewables across the country’ deserts this decade. The strategy is key to the government’s goal of peaking emissions by 2030.

Despite record-breaking additions in solar capacity, China still remains largely dependent on coal, which powered about 60% of the grid last year. Coal mining surged to an all-time high last month amid an energy-security push, while the International Energy Agency expects the nation’s coal consumption to keep rising through 2027, reversing a previous view that demand had peaked.

The Ruoqiang PV project is operated by China Green Electricity Investment of Tianjin, and began construction in August 2023.

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