Ordos, China

Overview of Ordos

Ordos, together with Hohhot and Baotou, is part of the "golden triangle" in the economic development of the autonomous region. Its main economic indicators are leading the whole region and positioned at the forefront of China's western regions. A prominent American consulting firm estimates that Ordos is one of the few locations in the world best suited for developing energy-intensive industries. In accordance with national planning, Ordos continues to place great emphasis on developing "Five bases” — a clean energy output base, a modern coal chemical production demonstration base, an aluminum industry and equipment manufacturing base, a green agricultural and animal products processing output base and a tourism base.

In 2016, the Ordos economy developed steadily, achieving a regional GDP of 441.8 billion yuan($66.6 billion),an increase of 7.3 percent over the previous year. The city's per capita GDP ranked first in the region, reaching 215,500 yuan, an increase of 6.8 percent.

Resource advantages

Wool

The annual wool and cashmere outputs in Ordos are 9,000 tons and 1,700 tons. The cashmere fiber has good elasticity, length, fineness, whiteness and luster and enjoys great popularity among foreign traders. The Chinese household name Erdos is an apparel brand that originated in the city. One third of China’s cashmere products come from Ordos, and its output accounts for a quarter of the world's total. Therefore, the city is known as the "Cashmere Capital" of China and has become a world-class hub for the industry.

Coal

Seventy percent of Ordos has coal reserves, the number one rank among prefecture-level cities in China. The city's proved reserves of coal surpass 193 billion tons, accounting for half and one sixth of those of the autonomous region and the country respectively. Total coal reserves are estimated at 1,000 billion tons. The coal is a rare high caloric thermal coal with low ash, low phosphorus and low sulfur.

Soil

The 7.12 million ton Kaolin clay reserves in Ordos are of high quality and high concentration. Kaolin is the best raw material for porcelain and is comparable to the clay of Jingdezhen, China's Porcelain Capital.

Gas

Ordos's Sulige Gasfield is by far the largest in China. It is a pivot city of China's west-east gas transmission project and has proven natural gas reserves of 2,650 billion cubic meters, one third of the country's total.

Wind

Wind energy is evenly distributed in Ordos with good continuity and stability. Average effective wind power density is 150-200 watts/sq m, and the total amount of wind energy resources can reach about 10 million kilowatts, which is suitable for developing super large wind farms.

Sunlight

The city's annual average sunshine duration is 2,763 to 3,166 hours and its annual average solar radiation exceeds 1,700 kilowatt-hours per sq m.

The long sunshine duration and high water level on the ground make Ordos suitable for developing photovoltaic solar power generation projects.