Once a heavy industrial base built on steel and rare earths, Baotou in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region is reinventing itself as a key player in China's green energy transition, with onshore wind power equipment becoming its latest industrial cluster.

At the Ming Yang New Energy Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park, the shift is visible.

Assembly lines are working in full swing, with robotic arms moving with steady precision, fastening bolt after bolt. At first glance, the pace does not seem extraordinary, but the difference is striking.

"Forty-two bolts on a single unit would take three workers nearly 16 hours with heavy hydraulic wrenches. The robots finish the job in just four," said He Changguo, general manager of Ming Yang Group's northern manufacturing center.

"Our production lines are running flat out for more than 10 projects, piecing together turbines bound for projects across Inner Mongolia and neighboring provinces," said He.

Baotou hosts 44 onshore wind power equipment makers spanning turbines, blades, generators, gearboxes and towers. Guangdong-headquartered Ming Yang Group, a major renewable power equipment and solutions maker, which entered the city in 2021, has since expanded from a single plant into the anchor of the local supply chain.

The parts localization rate for turbine units is expected to reach 85 percent this year, allowing most core components from gearboxes and generators to bolts to be produced within the city.

The city's ambition is tangible at one of the country's largest blade testing centers which started operations in 2024. A colossal 113-meter blade, longer than a soccer field, is strapped into a massive rig. It will swing millions of times over seven months, enduring fatigue tests designed to mimic years of operation.

Much of Inner Mongolia's wind potential comes from the desert and Gobi areas which offer abundant wind resources and also pose challenges for turbine design and operation such as frequent sandstorms and extreme temperature swings.

Ming Yang's new 10 megawatt turbines are designed to withstand — 35 C to 60 C, and are equipped with sand-resistant blades, advanced filters, and smart sensors to adjust automatically to harsh conditions. Each turbine sweeps an area the size of six soccer fields and can generate enough electricity in a single day to power about 1,300 households for a month.

Since production began in 2022, the Baotou facility has supplied equipment for more than 100 projects nationwide, generating around 55 billion kilowatt-hours of green electricity.

Research and innovation backstop this shift. In 2022, Ming Yang Group and the Baotou government established a smart energy research institute, followed by an academician workstation for wind, solar, and hydrogen. Backed by more than 50 researchers and support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the center has developed recyclable blades and models tailored to low-wind, desert, and coastal sites.

"Baotou's wind power equipment industrial park is a model of developing new quality productive forces," said Sun Yue, deputy government head of Shiguai district, which is home to the industrial park.

"We've built the onshore wind power industrial base with annual capacity for 1,500 turbines and 1,800 ultra-long blades."

Baotou's industrial shift is also evident at Baogang Group, the city's steelmaker. The company has developed 500 MPa-grade rare earth wind power steel, among the highest globally, offering improved welding and fatigue resistance. The material is now widely used in turbine towers, giving Baogang a foothold in the renewable supply chain.

"Baotou is moving from an old industrial base to a high-quality development hub," Sun added.

"By linking manufacturing, research and development, testing, maintenance and recycling, we are building a competitive cluster with national and global influence."

This strategy aligns with Inner Mongolia's goal of installing 300 gigawatts of new energy sources by 2030. In 2024, Inner Mongolia's installed capacity of new energy sources exceeded 135 GW, making it the first region in China where renewable energy capacity overtook that of coal-fired power. This figure is more than triple the level recorded at the end of 2019. As of May 2025, the installed capacity of new energy sources in the region had further surpassed 143 GW.

Contact the writers at lijing2009@chinadaily.com.cn