World’s largest energy-producing onshore wind farm goes online in China

China’s biggest onshore wind power project, operated by the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corporation, is now fully operational in Inner Mongolia. With 701 wind turbines boasting a total installed capacity of 3 million kilowatts, the facility aims to produce 10 billion kilowatt-hours annually, significantly cutting standard coal consumption by 2.96 million tons and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 8.02 million tons.

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China and the United States are leading forces in onshore wind technology. In the U.S., wind energy constitutes 10% of the total energy mix. 

Both nations have committed to intensifying efforts to combat climate change, aiming to triple global renewable energy by 2030. This commitment was made in anticipation of a meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November.

China, as the world’s largest wind power producer, increased its net capacity by 40GW in 2022, representing over half of the global addition of 77.6GW during the same period, according to the International Energy Agency. Of the total 68.8GW added globally through onshore installations in the previous year, China contributed 52 percent to this capacity expansion.

By the end of 2023 it projects that the total global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use and the increase of carbon from changes in land use will be 40.9 billion tons.

“The main source of CO2 into the atmosphere is burning fossil fuel,” said professor Pierre Friedlingstein, a climate change scientist at the University of Exeter. “We burn coal, oil, and gas. Altogether, they represent more than 35, 36, 37 billion tons of CO2 being emitted every year. We also emit CO2 with land use change, mainly deforestation in the tropics primarily. But I mean, today this represents about 10% of the world’s emissions. So the broad picture is like 36 (billion tons) come from fossil fuel burning and about 4 billion tons per year come from deforestation.”