China Mining News:

Inner Mongolia is rich in wind and solar resources, which gives it unique advantages in developing new energy industries. Given this, what efforts will Inner Mongolia make to promote the high-quality development of new energy industries?

Wang Lixia:

I'd like to invite Mr. Huang to answer this question. 

Huang Zhiqiang:

Thank you for your question. Inner Mongolia, as you mentioned, is a natural fit for the development of new energy industries thanks to its abundant wind and solar resources, its vast coal reserves, and its well-developed power grid.

Inner Mongolia is abundant in wind and solar power resources. It holds over half of China's exploitable wind energy resources and more than 20% of its exploitable solar energy resources.

Inner Mongolia has abundant coal reserves and large-scale thermal power generating units. As a stable and reliable method for peak shaving, these can support the large-scale and high-proportion use of new energy.

Inner Mongolia has a well-developed power grid, which is the third largest in the country — the Mengxi Power Grid. We are close to the load center with low transmission costs, and can provide green, cheap and reliable electricity.

Based on our resource endowment, we are moving toward green and new energy development, and have put forward the goals of "two firsts" and "two surpasses." We aim to be the first in the country to establish an energy supply system with new energy as the mainstay, and the first to build a new power system with new energy as the main body. By 2025, the scale of new energy installed capacity will surpass thermal power capacity, and by 2030, the total amount of power generation from new energy will surpass thermal power. At present, the installed capacity of new energy in Inner Mongolia has exceeded 100 million kilowatts, and the goal of overtaking thermal power capacity will be achieved ahead of schedule by the end of this year.

In order to promote the external delivery of green electricity, we are advancing the construction of six large wind and photovoltaic power delivery bases with a total installed capacity of tens of millions of kilowatts with high standards, and concentrating on the development of wind and photovoltaic power in the three major deserts of Kubuqi, Ulan Buh and Tengger, to supply clean energy on a large scale to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta.

In order to promote the local consumption of green electricity, we have planned six scenarios and tailored new energy allocation policies, including source-grid-load-storage, wind-solar hydrogen production, green power supply in industrial parks, green power substitution of self-provided power plants, full self-generation and self-use, and flexible transformation of thermal energy power. In each scenario, both the power generation side and the load side seek balance to achieve the maximum degree of self-consumption.

We are committed to developing the entire industrial chain, focusing on new energy development on the one hand and equipment manufacturing on the other, and concentrating on building four 100-billion-yuan industrial clusters of wind power, photovoltaics, hydrogen energy and energy storage. We are focused on the equipment manufacturing industry in the upper-stream and have extended the development of green chemicals such as green hydrogen and green ammonia in the lower-stream. We have comprehensively attracted supercomputing and intelligent computing industries to assist China's "East Data, West Computing" project, and simultaneously developed high-end producer services such as R&D, innovation, operation and maintenance services.

In summary, Inner Mongolia is rich in wind and solar power resources, and has great potential and opportunities for new energy. We hope to share the benefits of new energy development with everyone. Thank you.

Macrochina Network:

Inner Mongolia is the main battlefield for desertification control in China and an important region for implementing the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP), a large-scale afforestation project in northwest, north, and northeast China. Could you please introduce some of the progress and achievements made by the autonomous region in advancing the program? Thank you.

Wang Lixia:

I will answer this question. Thank you for your question. Desertification control under the program has attracted much attention from the media. In fact, the largest task is in Inner Mongolia. Among the three landmark projects deployed by General Secretary Xi Jinping in this regard, the Yellow River Jiziwan Project (“Jiziwan” refers to a Yellow River bend in the shape of the Chinese character “幾”) and the Horqin and Hunshandake Sandy Lands Project are almost all in Inner Mongolia, and the Hexi Corridor-Taklimakan Desert Project involves Alxa League in our region. It can be said that two and a half of the three landmark projects are in Inner Mongolia. Therefore, Inner Mongolia is the main battlefield for desertification control in China, so we must shoulder the main tasks. We took swift actions. Last year, desertification controls were completed for 9.5 million mu (about 633,333 hectares), which was 1.5 times the original plan at the beginning of the year. We expect to complete 97 million mu (about 6.46 million hectares) of desertification control by 2030. We must not only put green "protective clothing" on the desert, but also create a super “carbon sink” and a pure “oxygen bar.” For example, the Maowusu Desert is larger than the island province of Hainan. Now 80% of the desert has been turned green, and the green territory has advanced 200 kilometers to the south. The familiar Kubuqi Desert covers an area of 21.15 million mu (about 1.41 million hectares), and now over 40% of the area has been turned green. It has been identified by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) as an ecological economy demonstration zone. Dengkou county of Bayannur city is adjacent to the Ulan Buh Desert in the west. A forest belt that is 154 kilometers long and 100 meters wide has been built on the eastern edge of the desert, and has caused the eastern edge of the desert to retreat 20 kilometers and reduced the annual sediment transported to the Yellow River by more than 90%.

This year, we have combined sand prevention and control with new energy development, implementing projects that integrate sand prevention and control with wind and solar energy, and plan to provide over 100 million kilowatts of new energy. In the city of Ordos, between the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert and the southern bank of the Yellow River, a photovoltaic Great Wall is under construction. This project spans 400 kilometers in length and averages 5 kilometers in width. Through the project for the integrated advancement of sand prevention and control and photovoltaic energy, we aim to transform the yellow deserts into green fields and "blue seas" of photovoltaic panels.

We have also fully mobilized the enthusiasm of enterprises, farmers, herdsmen and social organizations. Dozens of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), central SOEs, and private enterprises are taking part, creating a surge in sand prevention and control efforts across the region. In particular, different localities have used various methods to encourage local people to participate in sand control. For example, in Alxa League, where the Badain Jaran, Tengger and Ulan Buh deserts are located, large-scale production bases for desert plants of traditional Chinese medicine like haloxylon, cistanche and cynomorium have been established. This has boosted the incomes of local farmers and herdsmen, and been particularly welcomed by the local people. Our goal is to complete the significant ecological project of the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program while boosting development and enriching the people in the process. In this way, we can control the sand, generate green electricity and increase people's incomes, achieving a "triple win" in ecological conservation, production and livelihoods. Thank you.