N China's Inner Mongolia cultivates new growth drivers to advance high-quality development

Ordos city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region plays an important role in China's desertification control efforts.

In Dalad Banner, Ordos, grass grids anchor the sand while a vast expanse of solar panels stretches into view. Beneath the panels, plants thrive and animals wander through, bringing life to the desert.

Photo shows a solar power base in the Kubuqi Desert, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where the solar panels are arranged in the shape of a horse. (People's Daily Online/Meng Jiashu)

Dalad Banner has developed new energy power projects with a total installed capacity of 5.57 million kilowatts, according to Li Kai, director of the comprehensive support center of the Energy Bureau of Dalad Banner.

As part of the "great photovoltaic wall," an ambitious solar energy desert reclamation project, Dalad Banner plans to extend the project about 400 kilometers with an average width of 5 kilometers, spanning the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert.

At the Mingyang New Energy Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Park in Baotou city, turbine blades are neatly arranged, creating a spectacular scene. The blades will be used in the construction of a new energy base in "Shagehuang," a Chinese term referring to deserts, the Gobi, and barren lands, across northern China.

A wind turbine is assembled at the Mingyang New Energy Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Park in Baotou city, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Xuedong)

In the assembly workshop, an 8.5-MW super-large offshore wind turbine undergoes testing before leaving the factory.

According to Xie Yao, director of the industry management department of Mingyang New Energy Offshore Equipment Headquarters Group Co., Ltd., the "Shagehuang" region has a harsh and complex environment, with bitter cold, scorching heat, and frequent sandstorms year-round. This poses serious challenges for the precision of wind turbine design and the performance of blade materials.

Xie explained, "The blades use high-efficiency airfoils and a design that guards against sand and gravel, further enhancing their durability in harsh conditions. At full capacity, just one day of power generation is enough to supply electricity for about 1,300 households for an entire month."

What can be done in 5 milliseconds? Latest data shows that from the digital cluster in Horinger New Area of Hohhot city, latency to the core area of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei hub is now under 5 milliseconds, under 15 milliseconds to the Yangtze River Delta hub, and under 20 milliseconds to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao and Chengdu-Chongqing hubs.

Photo shows Horinger New Area of Hohhot city, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (People's Daily Online/Fu Lijuan)

Inner Mongolia is an important hub of the "East Data, West Computing" initiative. The computing power of the Inner Mongolia hub has reached 165,000 petaflops, including 154,000 for intelligent computing, ranking first nationwide.

In Baotou, dubbed "the global hub of rare earths," both reserves and refining capacity rank first globally.

In early July, JL MAG Rare-Earth (Baotou) Co., Ltd. commenced construction of Phase III of its green manufacturing project, which will have an annual production capacity of 20,000 tonnes of high-performance rare-earth permanent magnetic materials. Once operational, the capacity will double to 40,000 tonnes.

In 2024, Baotou's rare earth industry output hit 103.05 billion yuan, about $14.47 billion. From January to May this year, the city's rare earth industry output reached 41.46 billion yuan.

At Hohhot's Shaliang Logistics Park, new cars are unloaded through a dedicated line fitted with radio frequency identification devices (RFID) scanners.

A car is unloaded through a dedicated line at the Shaliang Logistics Park in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (People's Daily Online/Kou Ya'nan)

"When the park opened in 2015, we handled just over 200 cars a month. By 2024, that figure exceeded 4,000," said Kong Xiangping, deputy manager of the park.

In late July, a China-Europe freight train carrying auto parts, aircraft components, and computer monitors departed the Manzhouli land port for Russia, bringing the total number of trains to pass through the port to 30,000.

China-Europe freight train passes through the Manzhouli land port in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Photo/An Jila)

The Manzhouli port handles over 60 percent of China-Russia land trade and has built a multimodal transport system integrating road, rail, and air. To speed up the turnaround time for returning trains, the port works with customs and border authorities to streamline procedures, improving clearance efficiency by nearly 10 percent.

To date, more than 30,000 trains carrying nearly 3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of goods have passed through the Manzhouli port. The trains now reach 13 European countries, including Russia, Poland, and Belgium, while inbound trains connect with over 60 Chinese cities, such as Harbin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Shipments cover 12 major categories from consumer goods and electronics to automobiles and timber, with high-value and high-tech products growing rapidly.