While China is making huge progress in clean energy and breaking records along the way, new numbers from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region show that green energy trading more than doubled in just six months. Now, at the same time, new projects there are testing better solar power, energy storage and ways to recycle old wind turbine blades. It's turning the region into a real life testing ground for the world's renewable future. Our reporter, Zhang Shiqing, has more new data from the state grid shows that green power transactions in Xinjiang reached nearly 16 billion kilowatt hours in the first half of this year, nearly double the total volume for all of 2025. Cross provincial and cross regional trade grew by 41%. Renewable energy now accounts for over 60% of the total installed power capacity.
And to turn that massive, clean energy generation into a stable, reliable power supply, Xinjiang is building some of the world's most ambitious projects.
In Bortala, the region's largest tower type solar thermal plant has been connected to the grid. It uses tens of thousands of mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a tower where molten salt heated to 800 degrees Celsius stores thermal energy, allowing the plant to continue generating power for up to 8h after dark. It's a clear shift from capacity driven growth to flexibility. First energy planning in Bortala, new energy surpassed 98% of total capacity by 2025, more than tripling in five years.
