China is building a ‘city of mirrors’ on the roof of the world.
High on the Tibetan plateau, solar panels stretch across the desert in every direction. They shimmer like a second horizon. Sheep wander between them, grazing on plants that have taken root in the shelter of the glassy rows. Locals call them “photovoltaic sheep.”
The project is billed as the world’s largest solar farm. When finished, it will cover 610 square kilometers — about the size of Chicago — and generate enough power for 5 million households. It’s two-thirds of the way complete, and previous phases are already generating a lot of solar power. And it’s only the latest in China’s relentless sprint to dominate renewable energy.
A Turning Point in Carbon Emissions
The solar mega project is part of a wider push by China to shift the nation’s emissions curve — and it seems to be working.
A recent analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air found that China’s carbon emissions dipped 1% in the first half of 2025, continuing a decline that began last year. That may sound small, but experts say it could mean China’s emissions have already peaked — years ahead of its official 2030 target.
“We’re talking really for the first time about a structural declining trend in China’s emissions,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finland-based lead analyst behind the study.
Unlike past dips driven by economic slowdowns or the onset of the pandemic, this time electricity demand is growing — currently up nearly 4%. But renewable power is growing even faster. Solar, wind, and nuclear have outpaced demand and started eating into coal’s dominance. Nearly three-quarters of new solar and wind projects are being built in China
Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, called it “a moment of global significance, offering a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak climate landscape.” He added that it shows a nation can cut emissions while still expanding its economy.
Solar Rising Against a Background of Emissions
A 2024 review found that 49 countries have decoupled emissions from economic growth, while 115 have not. Most African, American, and Asian countries have not decoupled, whereas most European and Oceanians have.
But optimism should be tempered by the broader energy context. China still leans heavily on coal. In 2023, China’s coal consumption was around 4.3 billion metric tons (4.3 billion tons), making it the world’s largest coal consumer. This volume of consumption represents nearly 55% of the global total. China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first six months of the year, more than America’s entire capacity of 178 gigawatts as of the end of 2024, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
Unless the grid is retooled to handle the fluctuations of wind and solar, coal plants will continue to act as the backbone of China’s extremely industry-heavy economy, blunting the impact of renewables. “It does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates,” Myllyvirta warned.
Solar Cities in the Desert
China has a habit of building its solar behemoths in remote western deserts. Last year, the country flipped the switch on what is still the world’s largest solar farm (for now): a 3.5-gigawatt facility in Xinjiang, big enough to power Papua New Guinea for a year.
The Tibetan farm pushes this strategy further, all while turning a barren plateau into a greener landscape. The panels double as windbreaks, slowing sandstorms and giving vegetation a foothold. Grass sprouts under the steel frames. Herds of sheep weave between rows, grazing on greenery that wouldn’t exist without the solar arrays.
“In terms of production, enterprises generate electricity on the top level, and in terms of ecology, grass grows at the bottom under the solar panels, and villagers can herd sheep in between,” explained Wang Anwei, head of the local energy administration. He called it a “win-win” for power, ecology, and livelihoods.
Yet the energy itself faces a hurdle: geography. Most of China’s people and factories sit in the east, thousands of miles away from these megafarms. Power lines must stretch across mountains and provinces to deliver clean energy where it’s needed. Officials admit the mismatch. “The distribution of green energy resources is perfectly misaligned with the current industrial distribution of our country,” said Qinghai’s vice governor, Zhang Jinming.
Transmission superhighways are under construction. One already connects Qinghai to Henan province. Two more are planned, including a line reaching Guangdong in the southeast — almost the opposite corner of China.
