Green energy to become first driver of Yunnan's economic growth

As China’s economy shifts from high-speed growth to high-quality development, the provinces in the country begin to adjust their economic structure and development direction from a global perspective.

In early 2018, Yunnan defined three priorities for its development, namely a focus on green energy, green food and building itself into a healthy living destination. Such a strategy marked the beginning of the province’s industrial transformation and upgrading, as well as its replacement of traditional economic drivers with new ones.

The three priorities cover the province’s primary, secondary and tertiary industries and represent the general direction of Yunnan’s industrial transformation, upgrading and its high-quality economic development.

For more than a year, Yunnan has sped up the building of an iterative industrial system comprised of traditional industries, pillar industries, and emerging industries. It hopes to leverage new economic drivers to build a modern economic system.

With the implementation of specific projects, Yunnan is speeding up the fostering of new economic drivers. In the first quarter of this year, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, Yunnan has implemented 149 projects concerning its three green priorities. This has been done in an orderly manner, involving an investment of 68.01 billion yuan.

On May 23rd, the first car built at the JMC New Energy Vehicle Base in Kunming rolled off the assembly line, marking a big step forward in the development of Yunnan’s new energy vehicle project.

The JMC New Energy Vehicle Factory covers 160 hectares. It involves a total investment of 2.446 billion yuan and is designed with a yearly production capacity of 100,000 vehicles. Its products will focus on markets in southwest China, with some vehicles exported to Southeast Asia as well. To date, a project to export cars to Laos has begun.

The green energy industry covers new energy vehicles, hydropower, wind power and solar energy, and is quickly becoming the province’s first pillar industry. In the near future, green energy will become the first driver for Yunnan’s economic growth.

Text from Xinhua, photos by Yangzheng