China Three Gorges Renewables to Invest $11 Billion in Integrated Power Project

China Three Gorges Renewables plans to invest $11 billion (80 billion Chinese yuan) in a huge integrated power project in China with solar, wind, and coal power capacity plus a storage facility.

China Three Gorges Renewables, a unit of the biggest hydropower producer in the country, China Three Gorges, plans the 16 gigawatt (GW) energy complex in the Inner Mongolia region in northern China, the company said in a stock filing cited by Reuters.

The project in Ordos City has already been approved by the Chinese authorities as one of the new large energy bases and will feature 8 GW of solar power installations, 4 GW of wind power capacity, another 4 GW of coal-fired power, and a 5 gigawatt-hour (GWh) energy storage.   

The project is slated for construction to start in September 2024, with the power supply expected to be connected to the grid by June 2027, according to the plans.

China is pursuing rapid expansion of its renewable energy capacity, but it isn’t ditching coal. The world’s second-largest economy leads in global renewable investments and installations and has a dominant role in many of the clean energy supply chains, including solar equipment, lithium processing, and mining and processing of other critical battery metals.

But China also continues to expand its coal-fired power fleet as its electricity demand grows, to ensure energy security and stable electricity supply, especially in peak demand periods. 

China has already reached its goal to have more non-fossil fuel installed electricity capacity than fossil fuels earlier than planned, with 50.9% of its power capacity now coming from non-fossil fuel sources. Back in 2021, the Chinese authorities said they would target renewables to outpace fossil fuel-installed capacity by 2025.

China is establishing itself “as a green energy leader with an unrivaled build-out of renewable energy and export of renewable technology,” DNV said in a China transition outlook earlier this year.

But DNV forecasts that fossil fuels will still account for 40% of China’s energy mix in 2050.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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