China Three Gorges invests US$11 billion in desert power projects

CHINA Three Gorges Renewables Group, a unit of the country’s biggest hydropower generator, will invest US$11 billion to expand its solar and wind fleets at a major clean energy base in the nation’s interior. 

The firm will construct a 16-gigawatt project that integrates renewable power and coal, combined with a 5-gigawatt storage facility, at one of China’s largest energy hubs in northwest Inner Mongolia, according to an exchange filing on Thursday (Jun 27).

The investment is part of the government’s grand plan to build 455 gigawatts of desert renewables projects by 2030, as part of Beijing’s efforts to decarbonise the world’s second-biggest economy. Inner Mongolia’s share of that will be 135 gigawatts.

Three Gorges said renewables generation from the site will depend on grid accessibility, while the coal-power plant is scheduled to begin operating in June 2027. China is struggling to connect all of its clean energy to the electricity network, and has increasingly turned to coal to backstop wind and solar when they’re unavailable.

The parent company, which operates the world’s largest hydropower project along the Yangtze River, has said it wants to add more wind and solar capacity to diversify its business as the era of mega-dams fades. BLOOMBERG