Summary

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ranked third out of 15 Chinese provinces with a score of 1.45 on Climatescope 2014, performing best in Greenhouse Gas Management Parameter IV. The province performed the best on carbon offsets and corporate awareness.

Located to the northwest of China, Xinjiang is the largest administrative division by area. Its 2013 GDP was $138.1bn. Xinjiang is blessed with abundant natural resources. Along with low project development costs and robust supply chains especially in wind and biomass and waste, renewable energy has experienced rapid growth in Xinjiang since 2011.

Xinjiang received $7.06bn in clean energy investments in 2013, out of a total of $18.08bn from 2006-13. Wind (3.3 GW) represented the larger share (56.7%) of 2006-13 investments to date, though solar had a larger share of the 2013 investments at 50.2%. Total renewable energy capacity is 4.8 GW.

Wind is the flagship sector of Xinjiang that boasts a nearcomplete clean energy value chain and a full-load generation of 2,582 hours, substantially exceeding the national average. 2013 witnessed a significant rise in both wind and PV sectors. The commissioning of transmission lines connecting Xinjiang to the Northwest Grid and the Hebei province, saw improvements in wind and PV curtailment to grid connection. Xinjiang may also see an additional 6 GW of wind and 1.25 GW of PV in the pipeline. The majority of wind farms are based in Hami, east of Xinjiang. Hami’s favourable geography ensures constant wind flows along the Turpan-Hami Basin - the ideal wind mega-base of China.

In 2013, Xinjiang sourced 83.2% of its electricity needs from coal, out of a total of 119.1TWh. Renewables were only 8.1% of generation in 2013 (and 16.1% of installed capacity).