At nightfall, hundreds of rows of shining panels blanket expanses of scrubby sand in a desolate northern Chinese desert that was once the world's largest solar farm. The solar park on the edge of the inhospitable Tengger desert generates 1.5 gigawatts of power, but it has since been surpassed by the largest, which is currently located further west and has more than double the capacity.

 

China, the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, is developing nearly twice as much wind and solar power as all other countries combined. Last week, its wind and solar capacity overshot a target set by President Xi Jinping nearly six years ahead of schedule.

 

The vast solar arrays in the Ningxia region are a testament to a state-led industrial policy that has driven that breakneck growth. South of the regional capital Yinchuan, huge trucks roar down a highway flanked by photovoltaic panels and wind turbines stretching to the horizon.