Though the temperature is cooling in late autumn, major projects in Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, are not losing their momentum. Project personnel are sparing no effort to put the projects into operation as early as possible!

A welder is hard at work at Baofeng's construction site. [Photo/WeChat account of Nuan news]

In Ordos' Uxin Banner, nearly 20,000 builders are working with a fighting spirit at a construction site of Inner Monglia Baofeng Co for a coal-to-olefins project with an annual production of 2.6 million metric tons and its supporting green-electricity-to-hydrogen-to-olefins project with an annual production of 400,000 tons. After one and half years of construction, the projects have entered the closeout phase of equipment installation. Since the groundbreaking in March 2023, 24.78 billion yuan ($3.48 billion) has been spent on the project. The first phase is expected to begin operating in November.

As the world's largest individual olefin production project, it is designed to produce 7.42 million tons of methanol, 3 million tons of polyolefin, 1.5 million tons of polyethylene, and 1.5 million tons of polypropylene per year, with its first phase attracting an investment of 47.8 billion yuan.

By generating green hydrogen through wind-solar integrated power to produce olefins and methanol, the project will not only ease a tight supply in the domestic market, but also facilitate the cyclic utilization of coal and reduce emissions in the coal chemical industry, making it a pilot of the high-end coal industry in Inner Mongolia and all of China. 

It is expected to generate an annual revenue of more than 60 billion yuan and an industrial added value of 40 billion yuan, empowering the development of the local economy, facilitating the transformation and upgrading of the coal industry, and fortifying national energy security.

A research team works at the Ordos New Energy Research Institute. [Photo/WeChat account of Nuan news]

In the microgrid lab of the Ordos New Energy Research Institute, a research team is busy testing simulators. By monitoring real time data and optimizing models, they can make power grids more stable and efficient in energy distribution, providing technical support for the utilization of clean energy in Ordos.

Inside the Ordos New Energy Research Institute. [Photo/WeChat account of Nuan news]

With the government's support, led by academicians, and established through college-enterprise cooperation, the institute is pressing ahead with the innovation and application of new energy technologies. The Ordos New Energy Lab started construction in march this year, and its first phase went into operation at the end of July. Construction on the second phase is now proceeding steadily.

Ordos, as always, believes in the paramount role of projects and views the construction and investment of major projects as the main driver of the economy. Since the beginning of 2024, in an effort to promote the high quality development of various undertakings, the city plans to implement 426 key projects (projects with a government investment of over 50 million yuan or an enterprise investment of over 100 million yuan). All the projects have already been started or resumed, and by mid-October, 154.79 billion yuan in investment had been put in place.