Green energy transition brings fortune across China

CHANGCHUN — Amid the freezing cold and snow-covered houses of his village in Northeast China's Jilin province, Kong Xiangling moves comfortably around the kitchen before the Chinese New Year holiday, tending a biomass stove as a pot of sauerkraut and pork simmers, filling the air with its rich aroma.

Hot water from the stove flows through pipes to the radiators, keeping the room at above 20 C, a sharp contrast to the smoky, frigid winters in Tangjiagangzi, Baishishan town of Jiaohe, that Kong remembers from decades ago.

"We used to burn firewood for everything, whether cooking, heating our kang beds, or just keeping warm," Kong recalled. "The kitchen was always thick with smoke that stung our throats and frost clung to every corner of the house. I would get up before dawn to add coal and clear out the ash, and my relatives would always complain about the smoke whenever they visited."

That harsh reality has eased in recent years thanks to China's push for clean energy in rural areas.

Kong and more than 100 other households in her village have witnessed dramatic changes. Pit latrines have been replaced by flush toilets, coal stoves swapped for clean biomass ones and tap water has eliminated the daily chore of carrying water from wells. "A handful of compressed straw does the work of both cooking and heating now," she said. "No smoke, no odor, and it saves us money." The old coal stove now sits in the corner as a relic of the past.

Jiaohe has been a pioneer in this transformation. It is the only county in the three northeastern provinces chosen as one of China's first rural energy revolution pilot zones. Beyond promoting biomass stoves, the city is developing a medium-deep geothermal heating project in Baishishan town that will cover 593,000 square meters and put an end to coal-burning heating for good.

Hundreds of kilometers to the east, in Tianqiaoling town of Wangqing county, Jilin's Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture, clean energy is also transforming winter life. Inside the snow-covered Taoyuan black fungus industrial park, constant-temperature greenhouses hum with activity as steam curls through the air and clusters of plump black fungus grow steadily on the racks.

Yan Cuilian, a villager working at the industrial park, holds a power detector and watches the stable current reading with relief. "Even when heavy snow blocks the roads, our greenhouses never lose power thanks to the electrified equipment," she said. "That used to be unthinkable."

Perched on China's border, Wangqing long struggled with an unstable power supply. As a remote area at the edge of the national grid, winter snow and rain often froze power lines, causing blackouts. Traditional black fungus farming was entirely weather-dependent, and once winter arrived, work ground to a halt, leaving villagers with little to do but wait out the cold.

"We couldn't even watch TV freely in the old days, let alone grow fungus in winter," recalled Yan. "The voltage was always fluctuating, and appliances would trip constantly."

Everything changed in 2023, when State Grid Jilin Electric Power Co Ltd launched a county-level autonomous clean energy power grid in Wangqing. Engineers braved temperatures below -20 C to climb snow-covered mountains and survey photovoltaic sites. They went door to door, listening to villagers' energy needs and promising a self-sufficient power solution.

"We were skeptical at first," Yan said. "But within a few months, the photovoltaic bases, small hydropower stations and energy storage stations were all linked together, and our power problems were solved for good."

The clean energy revolution lifting rural lives in Northeast China is also unfolding at a grand scale in the country's arid west, turning barren deserts into sources of green power and tangible wealth.

On Feb 3, the second package of the 1,000-megawatt photovoltaic desert-control project in Minfeng county, Hotan prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, completed the installation of all 22,772 fixed mounting structures and 592,072 PV panels. Built by China Railway 23rd Bureau Group (CR23G), the milestone lays a solid foundation for the upcoming grid connection.

Located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, the project is a key national initiative under China's large-scale wind and solar base development across deserts, Gobi and wastelands. It also serves as a core ecological barrier to lock shifting sands and protect communities in Minfeng and the surrounding areas.

Once fully operational, the project will generate 1.902 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity in its first year. More importantly, it will adopt an integrated ecological model: generating power on the panels, stabilizing sand beneath them, and growing grass between rows. This will form a nearly 9.8-kilometer green belt along the desert edge, effectively curbing sand dune movement and safeguarding local ecological security.

Xinhua - China Daily