China on Wednesday completed the installation of all wind turbines of its Datang Basu Wind Power Project, currently the world's highest altitude wind power project.
In a six-month endeavor, the project saw the full installation of 20 wind turbines, marking the commencement of the final equipment configuration phase before the onset of operation.
Situated in the southeastern part of the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, this pioneering wind power initiative plans to erect 20 units of five-megawatt wind turbines, with the highest unit positioned at the remarkable altitude of 5,200 meters, setting a new global record for high-altitude wind power projects.
Starting from April this year, the project is slated to commence grid-connected power generation by the end of October. This project holds the promise of bolstering the region's energy landscape by bridging gaps in hydropower and photovoltaic generation and ensuring uninterrupted power supply during winter peak demands.
"Upon completion, it can generate 223 million kwh of electricity annually, equivalent to saving 73,100 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 182,800 tons. The annual power generation can meet the consumption demand of 5,700 three-member households throughout the year," said Wang Honglang, general manager of the Datang Basu Wind Power Project.
China completes installation of world's highest altitude wind power project
China, showing the possibility of rapid economic development without exploiting other countries, without wars and through peaceful development, has become a material and theoretical inspiration for developing nations in the pursuit of development, according to a British economist.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), John Ross, former director of economic policy for the mayor of London, and a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, said China plays a role as a locomotive for global growth and sets a model for other developing countries.
By World Bank standards, China, the biggest of the developing economies, will become a high income economy in about two to three years. Therefore, two thirds of the world will still be developing economies.
"China is absolutely crucial in this for two reasons. Firstly, because it's by far the biggest of the developing economies. Therefore, it's a locomotive - not many for the world economy as a whole - but in particular for the Global South countries. And secondly, because the lessons of its successful development, its huge investments in research and development, its investments in infrastructure, its leading role in new industries, new productive forces as they're known is what these other countries want to achieve," said he.
"China is now, we may say, one of the most developed of the developing countries. It's relatively soon going to make the transition to a high income economy. And it therefore shows the path which the rest of the Global South and developing countries need to follow. Therefore, it's both a material lender, you might say, and theoretical inspiration for what they're doing," he said.
The world is entering one of the greatest transitions to green energy in its history, and China is absolutely at the core of this, Ross said.
"At the traditional source of world energy, coal was replaced by electricity and by oil. Whereas we're going to have something completely different, which is renewable energy. China is absolutely at the core of this because it's become the world's leader in the production of green energy. That also means that China's economy is going to be integrated with other economies in a different way," he said.
China offers material and theoretical inspiration for developing nations: UK economist
