The Chinese power group CHN Energy (CEIC) has commissioned the first 660 MW of its 2,640 MW Zhongwei coal-fired power plant project in the Gobi Desert, in the Autonomous Region of Ningxia, in northern China (CEIC press release, 03/02/2026). The Zhongwei Power Plant expansion project is designed to include four 660 MW units, which, once fully commissioned, are expected to generate about 11 TWh/year. It will serve as a key peak-regulating power source for the Ningxia Tengger desert–Gobi–wasteland energy base and the Ningxia–Hunan UHV DC transmission project.
In June 2025, a CEIC’s subsidiary, Longyuan Power, started building the 2.5 GW Tengger Desert wind power project, in Ningxia, as part of its Desert-Gobi renewable energy base project, which has a planned total capacity of 13 GW. The Tengger Desert wind power project features three wind parks, namely Haiyuan (1 GW), Shapotou (1 GW) and Zhongwei (0.5 GW) (Key Energy Intelligence, 25/06/2025).