Where is land most valuable to the power system, and how do land constraints reshape the path to carbon neutrality?

The study treats land as a production factor with substantial spatial variation, quantifying how additional renewable development space affects system costs. High-value land is concentrated near demand in eastern and central China, where local development can reduce reliance on distant resources and long-distance transmission.

Carbon-neutral power systems are technically feasible under conservative, baseline and open land-supply scenarios, but renewable locations, technology mixes and transition costs differ substantially. Abundant national resources can coexist with scarce land near demand centres.

How can global net-zero power systems deliver both deep decarbonization and energy access?

The study integrates deep decarbonization and energy access in a single optimization framework. A global net-zero power system meeting decent-living electricity standards in every region is technically feasible, with wind and solar resources in low-income regions supporting expanded electricity services.

How should AI computing facilities and clean desert energy be located together?

The study proposes colocating off-grid wind, solar, storage and data centres in deserts, transmitting computing outputs through optical fibre to reduce long-distance electricity transmission needs. Remote sites can supply 24/7 clean power for foundation-model training, while sites near demand centres serve latency-sensitive inference.

With several terawatts of wind and solar, how should capacity expansion, hourly operation, land policy and market design evolve together?

Substantial negative emissions from China's power system are technically feasible in 2060, but high renewable shares increase system variability. Alongside storage, transmission and negative-emission technologies, firm generation needs new compensation mechanisms to maintain capacity adequacy.

Where should wind and solar be built during the 15th Five-Year Plan, and how much storage and interprovincial transmission will they need?

The study represents renewable expansion in 2026–2030 on a 0.1° grid with hourly time series. In the baseline, annual wind and solar generation reaches approximately 4.9 PWh in 2030, approaching coal generation of around 5.3 PWh.

How do land policy, resource quality and grid connections shape the location of several terawatts of wind and solar?

The study integrates subprovincial renewable siting, demand centres, transmission and full-year system operation in a single planning model. Land availability affects developable potential, system costs and technology mixes.

With 5,000–8,000 GW of wind and solar in China, how much flexibility can pumped storage and cascade hydropower provide beyond conventional model estimates?

Reservoir levels, environmental flows, cascade relationships, pumped-storage charging and discharging, and renewable grids are integrated into a national model. Detailed hydropower flexibility substantially changes capacity needs, system costs and investment returns.