Travelers visiting Zhangjiakou City, located some 200 km northwest of Beijing, are in for a pleasant surprise.

Beyond the stunning mountain resorts that offer an escape from the hustle, bustle and heat of the capital, they will encounter a manmade spectacle: gigantic wind turbines dotting the skyline. These towering structures, as tall as 20-story buildings, perched on hilltops, will leave many visitors marveling at the ingenuity it took to construct them.

The northern part of Hebei Province, where Zhangjiakou is located, is one of nine clean energy bases that China is developing. These bases, ranging from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in the southwest to the northeast, are rich in wind, solar and hydraulic resources. Their development has powered not only local progress but also the nation's green transition.

Last year, China's renewable energy capacity surpassed that of thermal power for the first time, accounting for more than half of the country's total installed power generation capacity, according to official data. Thermal power, generated through coal burning, is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions. In the first half of 2024, China's newly installed renewable energy power generation capacity reached 134 million kilowatts, representing 88 percent of total additions in the country. Renewable energy sources, mainly water, wind and solar power, generated 1.56 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity, or 35.1 percent of the total power generated.

In 2020, China announced its goals of peaking its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060. The rise in renewable energy capacity is a testament to the country's progress in advancing these goals. Moreover, China has become a global leader in environmentally friendly industries such as electric vehicles, solar panels and lithium-ion batteries.

Nevertheless, renewable energy can prove less stable than coal-fired power. And despite its growing capacity, renewable energy's share in total power consumption remains lower than that of coal.

One solution is energy storage. An energy storage system charges when wind or solar power generates a surplus of electricity or when electricity demand is low. The system discharges its stored energy when necessary, ensuring a consistent supply from these intermittent sources. China is encouraging innovation in this field, with dozens of pilot projects underway. About 30 percent of these projects use lithium-ion batteries, a dominant technology in energy storage.