The 30-year collaboration between Fujian and Ningxia has spanned mountains and seas with deep cultivation and continuous advancement. It has now achieved a historic leap from "one-way assistance" to "mutually beneficial partnership," becoming a model for cooperation between eastern and western regions of China.
Collaborative Wins: Forging Two-Way Strengthening and Supplementing of the 3D Printing Technology Chain
In Nan'an, Fujian, a 3D printing technology enterprise from Ningxia has established operations, complementing the local machinery and equipment industry chain and yielding significant results. This extends the Fujian-Ningxia collaboration into industrial chain synergy. Inside the workshop of the National Intelligent Casting Industry Innovation (Quanzhou) Center in Xiamei Town, Nan'an City, Quanzhou, staff are debugging two sets of casting 3D printing equipment. Once operational, the number of 3D printers in this smart factory will increase from six to eight, boosting production capacity. The 3D printed products here are molds for cast products, which can replace traditional mold-making. The casting 3D printing technology greatly compresses the mold preparation cycle, a core technology of Ningxia's Sharing Group.
Headquartered in Yinchuan, Ningxia, Sharing Group possesses leading fully intelligent factories for casting 3D printing. Quanzhou City boasts a complete machinery and equipment industry chain with an output value exceeding one hundred billion yuan. Benefiting from the "Fujian-Ningxia Collaboration," the advanced manufacturing expertise from inland Ningxia has deeply integrated with the dynamic energy of the southeastern coast. Sharing Group established its then-newest generation casting 3D intelligent factory in Nan'an, which commenced operations in March 2023.
"Speed" is the defining feature of this 10,000-ton capacity, fully intelligent casting 3D printing factory. It not only addresses pain points of traditional processes but also achieves "flexible production," meeting enterprise needs for small batches, complex components, and customization. Shi Qingming's team is currently discussing product design with a company that produces machining master machines for aircraft engine blades. The two factories are located in the same industrial park, just 400 meters apart. Since 2023, this company has consistently ordered 3D printed products.
Fujian's well-developed machinery and equipment industry chain brings not only orders but also more application scenarios, which in turn is driving technological advancement and application in intelligent manufacturing for Ningxia's Sharing Group.
East-West Collaboration Builds "Intelligent Nests" for Complementary Development
Using the Fujian-Ningxia partnership as a catalyst, Ningxia is building nests to attract phoenixes and expanding the platform for east-west cooperation. This not only attracts eastern enterprises to take root but also helps local companies go national. East-west collaboration is transitioning from one-way assistance towards two-way mutual benefit.
This is Minning Town in Ningxia. Thirty years of east-west collaboration have cultivated new growth on this land. These are "high-quality tomatoes" produced by a smart agriculture base. Why are they called "high-quality"? Inside the smart greenhouse, when light, temperature, and humidity reach preset values, drip arrows automatically activate, delivering nutrient solution precisely to the roots of each tomato plant, achieving integrated water and fertilizer management. Skylights automatically open and close based on temperature, boiler exhaust gases are recycled to become a "carbon source" for the tomatoes, and rainwater is also collected and reused, being both environmentally friendly and yield-enhancing.
Through comprehensive intelligent control of temperature, light, water, air, and fertilizer, the optimal growing environment for tomatoes is created here, enabling year-round uninterrupted supply. Why did such an enterprise choose to establish itself in Minning Town? Zhang Xulong, head of the smart agricultural industrial park, stated the main reasons are Ningxia's favorable natural environment, abundant sunlight, and good synchronization of temperature and light. Additionally, the local government provided substantial support for their project, offering tangible preferential policies on land use and natural gas pricing.
This enterprise from Shandong not only grows tomatoes well but also provides stable "at-the-doorstep" jobs for the residents of Minning Town. We use electricity every day, but transmission lines strung high in the air face numerous challenges. Bird interference, ice accumulation, and strong winds, while seemingly minor, are significant triggers for line faults. In ensuring stable power supply, a Ningxia-based enterprise has developed its own unique technology.
This is a company dedicated to power transmission safety and was the first domestic company to develop integrated protective insulation devices. Their self-developed integrated protective insulation devices specifically address issues like bird interference and wind-induced conductor displacement that often cause faults, making grid operation safer and more reliable. Furthermore, the company has independently developed insulator inspection robots that operate using drone mounts, ensuring both safety and efficiency. Today, these products and devices have moved beyond Ningxia, being tested in broader markets.
Tomatoes from the east have taken root in Minning Town; robots starting from Ningxia safeguard power grids in eastern and other regions. "Coming in" and "going out" represent not just the two-way flow of industry but also a vivid footnote to east-west collaboration, and this path continues to extend further.
Minning Town: From "One Utility Pole" to a "Green Power Benchmark"
In recent years, Minning Town has gained a new identity—"Green Power Town." By the end of 2024, it had become the first town-level area in northwest China to achieve 24-hour green power supply. How did this immigrant town, rising from "dry sand," transform step by step into a "green power benchmark"?
With gearboxes and yaw systems exposed, trainees are gathered around a disassembled wind turbine for a lesson. Nearby, energy storage and power transformation equipment from different eras and employing different technological routes are within reach. This is not a science museum but the largest and most functionally comprehensive new energy training school in northwest China. The practical training base was built in this town, precisely because of Minning Town's substantial "wind and solar resource foundation."
Yet, Minning Town was not always this "resource-rich." Wang Ruifang is the longest-serving employee at the Minning Town Power Supply Station, having been stationed there since its establishment in 1997—nearly 30 years. She still remembers the early days. Wang Ruifang described the harsh conditions back then: "No birds flew in the sky, no grass grew on the ground." Later, the government built a water tower in the town, which required electricity for pumping. The power department erected the first utility pole right next to the tower. With electricity and water, people could live well. That one utility pole brought electricity, pumped water, and kept people there.
The transition from "having electricity is enough" to "green power benchmark" began on the rooftops of Yuanlong Village. This is the largest ecological resettlement village in Minning Town. Rooftops of all 1,922 households in the village are equipped with photovoltaic panels. The deep blue panels, neatly arranged, form a unique landscape. With an average annual sunshine duration of 3,000 hours—a gift from nature—residents genuinely feel that "sunshine can also earn money."
Beyond residents' own rooftops, many villages in Minning Town have leased out idle land to build more "sunshine savings accounts." People have also started planting and breeding under the photovoltaic panels, generating dual income from a single plot of land, achieving a win-win for ecology and livelihood. On the surrounding barren sandy land near Minning Town, wind turbines stand tall, complementing the solar power. However, renewable energy has an inherent challenge: no sun at night, and the wind may cease. Where does the electricity come from then? Minning Town's solution is a "super power bank."
Having a "power bank" alone is not enough; precise dispatch is the core. A self-developed "Source-Grid-Load-Storage Coordinated Control System" was first applied here. Relying on every photovoltaic panel from rooftops to wastelands, every wind turbine, along with a "super power bank" and an intelligent "dispatch brain," Minning Town's "Green Power Town" has delivered solid results since its full completion in 2024.
It supplies 566 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity annually, saves over 69,500 tons of standard coal, reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 192,700 tons, and achieves a new energy utilization efficiency exceeding 95%. This "Green Power Town" also presented a grassroots, vivid sample from a small town in northwest China for the global "dual carbon" goals at the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference.
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