Opinion | How China helps world's developing countries in Belt and Road to achieve their clean energy ambitions
By Augustus K. Yeung
While smearing from the West is nothing new, reporting the facts that China has been helping developing countries along the Belt and Road is one effective way to counter concerted smearing campaigns. They may have the spear, but modern China has the leadership and shield, which is tangible enough to show and tell the Western world which is getting jealous of China's technological prowess and talents.
We know who these countries are and what their real intentions they are harboring. Among these countries of sabotage stands the Philippines, which has recently withdrawn from the Belt and Road Initiative and is setting up station on disputed islands.
The following newspaper reporting on the achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative and what its spin-off has to offer, and it is certain to make Mr. Marcos Jnr get blamed – later by his countrymen for retarding his country's development amid rising ASEAN countries.
The world's largest single-site solar power plant – a flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative – has been completed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ahead of the UN's Cop28 climate change conference in Dubai starting on Thursday in November.
The two-gigawatt AI Dhafra Solar Photovoltaic Project covers 20 sq km of desert outside Abu Dhabi and can power about 200,000 households, according to main contractor China National Machinery Industry Corporation.
The company said the plant was expected to help Abu Dhabi reduce carbon emissions by 2.4 million tonnes each year – the equivalent of taking more than half a million cars off the road – and take the proportion of clean energy to over 13 per cent of the emirate's overall consumption.
By mid-November, the solar farm had already produced 3.6 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity ahead of its official inauguration on November 16.
"As the UAE prepares to host Cop28, this pioneering project reflects the country's ongoing commitment to raising its share of clean energy – reducing its carbon emissions and supporting the global efforts on climate action," said Abu Dhabi's deputy ruler, Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Sheikh Hazza had also expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the contractor's "high standard, high quality work", the company said on its official WeChat account.
The plant consists of 4 million solar panels that can capture sunlight on both sides, according to the company, which was responsible for its design, civil engineering, equipment supply, installation and commissioning, it will also provide two years of operation and maintenance.
According to reports, the three-year construction contract was signed in October 2020 – with the project team battling the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent supply-chain constraints to complete the project on time.
"China used … cutting-edge solar panel components and the latest design and construction concepts to build this plant," the project's on-site manager Che Mingan, told the official newspaper of the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
"From the photovoltaic modules to tracking brackets and cleaning robots, the project embraced Chinese products and technologies," said Che – who has worked with more than 5,000 colleagues from 19 countries in Abu Dhabi's desert since 2020.
According to Che, the AI Dhafra plant had been operating at full capacity since April. "It will be crucial for the UAE – to achieve its carbon neutrality goal by 2050 – and promote regional energy transformation and sustainable development," Che said.
The newspaper report said the Abu Dhabi project was the latest example of how China was helping countries in Belt and Road areas – to achieve their clean energy ambitions.
China has fostered green development partnership with more than 30 countries under the Belt and Road infrastructure program, according to the report. These have included the Karachi nuclear power plant's K-2 and K-3 phases – built by China National Nuclear Corporation with its home-grown, third-generation nuclear power technology. (Source: SCMP)
As a bold idea, The Belt and Road Initiative was designed and launched by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. To most Chinese people, especially those in the Hong Kong special administrative region (SAR), it was a romantic conception, reminiscent of Admiral Cheng He's 7-exploration to the South Pacific.
Note: Admiral Cheng He was a Ming Dynasty official, whose seafaring adventure to the South Pacific including the Horn of Africa was textbook knowledge. It was only when the Belt and Road Initiative was launched that Chinese companies and talents are capitalizing on the Middle East market.
Arthur Lam was one such pioneer. "No unicorns can do well only focusing on the Hong Kong market," said Lam, the co-founder, and CEO of Negawatt Utility. "Strategies in going global need to be inclusive, and not in tunnel vision."
His engineering company, which uses IT to make energy management smarter, has successfully entered the Middle East market.
Soon after he secured a landmark project in Hong Kong last year, partnering with the Housing Society to roll out an award-winning mobile platform to provide incentives for 30,000 households to foster a low-carbon lifestyle, Lam pitched the idea to Masdar City, a smart city in Abu Dhabi – that aims to be the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste city powered by renewable energy.
The firm signed a partnership with the city in February during John Lee's high-profile trip to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The collaboration was sealed in September by a more strategic agreement – made at the annual Belt and Road Summit.
"I'm very happy that we could find a niche where we can help them to frame the concept of sustainability on a different level, when most of the solutions they're doing are hardware-focused," Lam said enthusiastically.
And more projects are in the pipeline. The company is planning to adopt its Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for mixed-use buildings in Arab states – to help them pursue decarbonization goals.
Arthur Lam is just an example of many Hong Kong experts moving into the Middle East market – inspired by Belt and Road Initiative which is gathering momentum.
To contact the writer, please direct email: AugustusKYeung@ymail.com
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