From the scattered industrial imprints of chimneys in the "Steel City"

To the transformation answer sheet of "Green Intelligent Manufacturing" with greenery everywhere

The World Green Silicon Capital — Baotou, Inner Mongolia

Riding the east wind of the "Dual Carbon" goals

Is answering the transformation question of the times

Through a profound reshaping

01

Rising with the Light, the "World Green Silicon Capital" Boasts Solid Strength

Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Baotou, the former "Grassland Steel City", has amazed the industry with outstanding achievements: it is not only one of the first batch of cities in China with the crystalline silicon photovoltaic industry output value exceeding 100 billion yuan, but also won the title of "World Green Silicon Capital" in 2023. Since 2022, its industrial output value has crossed the 100-billion-yuan mark for four consecutive years, becoming the core engine driving high-quality regional development.

Global leading enterprises including Tongwei, Daqo and GCL have gathered here, basically forming a resilient industrial chain of "metallurgical silicon — polysilicon — monocrystalline silicon — wafer — module", realizing the development mode of "leading by giants and cluster-based growth". Baotou has built production capacities of 820,000 tons of polysilicon, 232.4GW of monocrystalline silicon, 50GW of silicon wafers and 16GW of modules.

Driven by leading enterprises, the local supporting system is increasingly improved, with projects ranging from crucibles, frames to inverters landing intensively, and the local supporting rate exceeds 65%. A complete industrial chain from raw materials to modules has taken shape, and the pattern of "flourishing along the chain and win-win ecological development" is taking shape at an accelerated pace.

02

Thriving with Photovoltaic & Energy Storage, "China Energy Storage Capital" Rises Rapidly

Baotou takes new-type energy storage as a key link to extend, complement and strengthen the industrial chain, and makes overall planning with the "cluster-based" idea to promote coordinated development of all links of "power generation, storage, transmission and consumption" of new energy.

At present, the total scale of grid-side energy storage construction in Baotou has reached 4.7 million kW, of which 2.1 million kW has been completed, and 2.6 million kW is under construction or pending construction. In the energy storage map of western Inner Mongolia, an important bearing place for new-type energy storage is rising at an accelerated speed.

From "relying on weather for power supply" to "obtaining stable power from energy storage", Baotou is taking the energy storage matrix as the fulcrum to accelerate the building of "China Energy Storage Capital", and converting the wind and solar resources on the grassland into permanent green kinetic energy. This is not only the "Baotou answer sheet" for energy transformation, but also a solid cornerstone for Inner Mongolia to build a national important energy base.

03

Forging Ahead in Innovation, the Hydrogen Energy Sector Achieves Chain-based Breakthroughs

Baotou is a rare region with "double high values" of wind and solar resources: the annual available hours of wind energy reach over 3300 hours, the annual available hours of solar energy reach over 1650 hours, the total technically exploitable amount of wind and solar resources is about 56 million kW, and the grid-connected installed capacity has reached 13.1546 million kW. The abundant green power supply system reduces the production cost of green hydrogen to 18 yuan/kg, which is only 60% of the national average level.

Baotou takes the hydrogen energy industry as a key breakthrough point, builds the first full-scene green hydrogen self-circulation innovative city in China, and constructs a demonstration highland of modern energy economy. In 2025, Baotou was approved as a regional pilot for hydrogen energy in the national energy sector, which is one of the three full-chain development pilots in China, the only regional pilot based on a prefecture-level city, and the only selected city in Inner Mongolia.

04

Choosing Baotou Means Choosing a Green Future

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Baotou closely follows the national deployment of new-type energy system construction, and continuously promotes the expansion and strengthening of the new energy industrial ecosystem. The photovoltaic sector makes breakthroughs in high-efficiency cells, perovskite and silicon-based new materials; the wind power sector realizes breakthroughs in large-megawatt units and localization of key components; the energy storage sector promotes parallel development of multiple technical routes including lithium batteries and flow batteries; the green hydrogen sector accelerates the construction of the whole chain of production, storage, transmission and consumption, striving to build the first full-scene green hydrogen self-circulation innovative city in China, and promoting the accelerated formation of a new pattern of coordinated development of photovoltaic, wind power, energy storage and hydrogen energy.

With an enterprising attitude, Baotou is refining the grand blueprint of the 15th Five-Year Plan into annual construction drawings, and forging ahead towards the strategic goals of "three basically completions", "one advancement" and "two top rankings" — Baotou is writing its own remarkable chapter in the grand narrative of China's high-quality development.