Company News

From a zero-carbon airport to autonomous mining trucks and hydrogen storage, Ordos is testing what an energy transition could look like in a coal-rich region.

ORDOS, Sept 23 (China Economic Net) - When Sakolsky, a retired American teacher, finally met Yin Yuzhen, a Chinese heroine of desert control who had received a $5,000 donation from him, few noticed the setting for their high-profile encounter: Ordos Ejin Horo International Airport, where the world's first zero-carbon airport technology is verified and applied.

Ordos Ejin Horo International Airport in Inner Mongolia, China [Photo provided to China Economic Net]

Using carbon dioxide as a medium for moving and converting energy, the airport now operates without fossil fuels, fluorocarbons or cooling water. Powered by Inner Mongolia's abundant wind and solar resources, the CO-based system moves and converts energy drawn from sources including air and soil heat. It then turns otherwise fluctuating renewable energy into more stable heating, cooling and electricity.

After the system was put into operation in March, 2025, clean energy now accounts for more than 90% of the airport's energy consumption. Annual use of wind and solar power has exceeded 21 million kWh, while energy consumption for heating and cooling has fallen by 60%, according to Professor Zhang Xinrong of Peking University Ordos Research Institute of Energy, developer of this pioneering technology.

Meanwhile, operating costs have dropped by 50%, natural-gas consumption has been cut by more than 2 million cubic metres a year, and annual carbon emissions have been reduced by about 9,500 tonnes. The system has also replaced 3,500 kg of fluorocarbon refrigerants.

“Before its renovation, the airport relied on two separate and carbon-intensive systems. Natural-gas boilers consumed about 2.6 million cubic metres of gas a year for heating, while fluorocarbon-based chillers used about 2.15 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually for cooling. Together, the systems generated nearly 9,600 tonnes of carbon emissions each year,” Zhang said.

Aiming for zero-carbon computing

For decades, Ordos was synonymous with coal. The city in Inner Mongolia holds roughly one-sixth of China's coal reserves, and its economy and energy system were built around fossil fuels.

Nowadays, the city has established 26 specialised laboratories, incubated 17 companies and obtained 28 patents in the field of emerging energy and low-carbon technology ecosystem.

Hydrogen is another part of the endeavor.

A shared hydrogen facility designed with the participation of Ordos New Energy Research Institute is expected to become, once completed, the world's first off-grid zero-carbon industrial park using hydrogen for long-duration energy storage, according to the project team. A zero-carbon service area already combines hydrogen production and refuelling, ultra-fast charging and battery- and hydrogen-swapping facilities for heavy trucks.

Modelling of Shengyuan Shared Hydrogen Factory in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China [Photo/Wang Kai]

The logic is similar to that behind the CO system: renewable energy needs ways to remain useful when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining.

Hydrogen can act as a kind of energy buffer, allowing renewable electricity to be converted into a form that can be stored for longer periods and used when required.

Transport is changing, too. In Ordos's mines, 105-tonne pure-electric mining trucks and 130-tonne hybrid mining trucks are already in operation. In the surrounding desert, six tree-planting robots can operate in formation.

Autonomous heavy-truck platooning is also being tested. A human-driven Level 2 lead vehicle can guide between one and five autonomous heavy trucks, a system designed in part to address the challenges of long-distance transport in areas where communications coverage can be weak and where road obstacles, livestock and maintenance work can disrupt conventional operations.

KargoBot L4 Space transport robot

Ordos is also betting that its new energy technologies can help address one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand: computing.

Data centres consume large amounts of electricity and, depending on their cooling systems and local climate, can also require substantial quantities of water for heat dissipation.

The New Energy Research Institute is planning an 800-million-yuan investment programme covering four zero-carbon scenarios: industrial parks, transportation, mines and desert management, and computing centres. The programme is intended to develop demonstration projects that can eventually be standardised and scaled up.