The 16th (2023) International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference takes place in Shanghai on May 23, and many officials, experts, and entrepreneurs attend. [Photo/WeChat account of Baotou Daily]

The 16th (2023) International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference took place in Shanghai on May 23. At the conference's opening ceremony, Baotou was honored with the title of World Green Silicon City by the Global Green Energy Council.

Professor Martin Green (right), a renowned figure in photovoltaics at the University of New South Wales in Australia, the executive research director of the ARC Photovoltaics Center of Excellence of the university, and an academician of the Australian Academy of Sciences, presents the title to Baotou on behalf of the Global Green Energy Council. Zhang Rui (left), mayor of Baotou, receives it. [Photo/WeChat account of Baotou Daily]

The conference is recognized as the world's largest and most influential professional international photovoltaic event.

Ding Xiufeng, a member of the standing committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Party Committee and secretary of the Baotou municipal Party committee, delivers a speech and promotes the "World Green Silicon City." [Photo/WeChat account of Baotou Daily]

Ding introduced that last year, Baotou became the first city in China with an output value of more than 100 billion yuan ($14.19 billion) in the photovoltaic industry. Baotou has formed a complete photovoltaic industry chain from industrial silicon to polysilicon and monocrystalline silicon, then to slices, cells, modules, and other supporting products. The city will continue to make reasonable efforts to form a complete supporting set of silicon industries.

It is expected that by the end of this year, the production capacity of polysilicon and monocrystalline silicon in Baotou will account for 40 percent of the country's total, and in 2025, it will account for 50 percent of the country's total and 45 percent of the world's total. Baotou will be devoted to building a 100-billion-yuan-level semiconductor industry cluster and an organic silicon industry cluster.

More than others, Baotou is rich in wind and solar resources, which can provide cheaper electricity in a green way for the development of the silicon industry. By 2025, the proportion of the "green" electricity supply for the city's photovoltaic industry will reach more than 40 percent, which will help it enter the international photovoltaic market, such as the European Union.

Ding called on that Baotou currently invites all kinds of enterprises, institutions, and scholars to invest and develop in Baotou, co-building the world's green silicon hub.