The city of Ulanqab in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China looks like a pastoral paradise with boundless lush green prairies lying under a brilliant azure sky， peacefully grazing herds， and melodies fl ying in the air as the herdsmen play the morin khuur， the traditional horsehead fi ddle.
　　Soon the landscape will have a modern addition. With the world’s largest onshore wind power project breaking ground in the city on September 26， Ulanqab， also called the land of wind power， will get more green power. The city is the main passage for the freezing high-pressure winds from Siberia and cyclones from Mongolia to enter the Chinese mainland.

　　“The project will generate 20 TWh of wind power every year， to be transmitted to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It will replace the consumption of 6 million tons of standard coal equivalent， thereby re- ducing 16 million tons of greenhouse gas emission，” Liu Mingsheng， Chairman of Nei Mongol Energy Co. under the State Power Investment Corp. （SPIC）， one of the top fi ve power generation companies in China， said.
　　Nei Mongol Energy is developing the project that will cover an area of 2，072 square km and is expected to see investment of around 40 billion yuan （$5.64 billion）.
　　The project is not taking clean power subsidies from the government. The power it generates will be sold at the same price as thermal power， Liu said. He estimated roughly 48 billion yuan （$6.76 billion） of subsidies will be saved in two decades of operation.
　　With climate change posing an increasingly greater threat to the survival of humankind， switching to clean energy has got a new urgency. “We will promote a revolution in energy production and con- sumption， and build an energy sector that is clean， low-carbon， safe and efficient，”Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2017.
　　SPIC’s total installed power capacity is 144.87 GW， over 50 percent of which is clean energy. Of the actual power it generates， 43.18 percent is from nonfossil sources， the company said at a press conference in July. It has a 10-percent lead in both capacity and production of clean power.

The future trend

　　According to the World Energy Outlook 2018 released by the International Energy Agency， renewable and nuclear power accounted for 36 percent of gross generation. The report predicted that in 2050， clean energy will make up over 70 percent of primary energy consumption and its installed capacity would be over 80 percent of the world’s total. 　　In China， the per-capita coal reserve is 70 percent of the global average level， while natural gas and petroleum account for just one fifteenth. According to SPIC Chairman Qian Zhimin， given China’s energy resources， clean energy undoubtedly represents the future trend.
　　“China has abundant clean energy resources，” Qian said in his speech at the Annual Conference of Nationwide Corporate Culture held in August. Five places alone—Inner Mongolia， Xinjiang Uygur and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions and Gansu and Qinghai provinces—have exploitable wind and solar power capacity that could total 397 PWh， or nearly 4，700 times the power generated by the Three Gorges Hydropower Station. The national power demand will be fully met if a 60th of the reserves is developed， Qian said.
　　Prior to the Ulanqab wind power project， SPIC has built several large new-energy industrial bases， such as the world’s largest solar power station in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai in northwest China， and offshore power proj-ects in Jiangsu Province in east China and Guangdong Province in south China.

　　As of now， the company has registered 16.46 GW of solar power capacity and 16.57 GW of wind power capacity， ranking first and third in the world， respectively. Besides that， it is rolling out a nuclear power blueprint in the coastal regions of Shandong Province in east China and Guangdong， with a combined capacity of over 10 GW.
　　At a conference in May， Qian talked of the importance of innovation as the main engine driving corporate development， pointing out that progress has been made in major science and technology projects and new and intelligent energy.
　　SPIC boasts of several innovations. Its proprietary nuclear reactor CAP1400 has 85 percent of its parts made in China. It has also achieved breakthroughs in the research and development of heavy-duty gas turbines.
　　In 2022， when visitors come to watch the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing， they will be transported from one venue to another by SPIC-developed hydrogen buses that use hydrogen fuel cells for power.
　　Talking about the direction the energy sector is taking， Qian said the future energy system would be a network of information， communication， control and protection devices. It would be capable of producing， transmitting， utilizing， storing and converting primary and secondary energy and the Internet of Energy would be its platform.

Belt and Road forays

　　As the demand for power rises in other countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative， Chinese enterprises are seizing investment opportunities. SPIC has seen its business expand into over 45 countries， such as Brazil and Malta， with total installed capacity surpassing 5 GW. Over 60 percent of it is clean energy.
　　In August 2018， an 80-MW wind power station was completed in Punta Sierra， Chile. It’s the first power station constructed by SPIC and the largest of its kind in the South American country. The power it generates meets the needs of 130，000 households and reduces 157，000 tons of carbon emissions.
　　In August， a thermal power project with two 660-MW plants began commercial operation in Hub， an industrial city in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province. Developed by SPIC， the project has earmarked part of the nearly $2-billion investment to treat emissions from the plants and ensure conformation with environmental protection standards.
　　It’s one of the major energy projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative， and will fulfi ll the power demand of millions of Pakistani families， Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Geng Shuang said.
　　Densely populated but economically lagging behind， Pakistan has the second highest school dropout rate. Jobs and vocational training facilities are low compared with the global average.
　　While developing the project， SPIC has generated jobs for the local people and provided training opportunities. Till date， over 60 percent of the staff are Pakistanis and the ratio is expected to reach 80 percent in the next fi ve years， according to the manager of the project.