The Fujian-Ningxia collaboration, spanning three decades, has continuously deepened across mountains and seas. It has now achieved a historic leap from "one-way assistance" to "two-way mutual benefit," establishing itself as a model for cooperation between eastern and western regions.
Mutually Beneficial Cooperation Forges Two-Way Strengthening and Supplementing of 3D Printing Technology Chains
In Nan'an, Fujian, a foundry 3D printing technology enterprise from Ningxia has taken root, complementing the local machinery and equipment industry chain and yielding fruitful results. This extends the Fujian-Ningxia collaboration into the realm of industrial chain co-construction.
Inside the workshop of the National Intelligent Casting Industry Innovation (Quanzhou) Center in Xiamet Town, Nan'an City, Quanzhou, Fujian, technicians are calibrating 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 castings, which can replace traditional mold-making processes.
Casting 3D printing technology significantly compresses the mold preparation cycle, which is the core technology of Ningxia Sharing Group. Headquartered in Yinchuan, Ningxia, Sharing Group possesses leading fully intelligent foundries utilizing 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 high-end manufacturing expertise from inland Ningxia has deeply integrated with the dynamic energy of the southeastern coast. Sharing Group established its then-newest generation of intelligent casting 3D printing factory in Nan'an, which commenced operations in March 2023.
"Speed" is the hallmark of this ten-thousand-ton capacity, fully intelligent 3D printing foundry. It not only addresses pain points of traditional processes but also enables "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 manufactures machine tools for processing aero-engine blades. The two factories are located within the same industrial park, just 400 meters apart. Since 2023, this enterprise has been consistently ordering 3D printed products.
Fujian's well-developed machinery and equipment industry chain not only brings orders but also provides more application scenarios, which in turn drives technological advancement and application of intelligent manufacturing at Ningxia Sharing Group.
Building a "Smart Nest" Through East-West Collaboration: Complementary Advantages for Shared Development
Guided by the Fujian-Ningxia cooperation, Ningxia is building nests to attract phoenixes and expanding the platform for east-west collaboration. This not only attracts eastern enterprises to take root but also helps local companies go national. East-west cooperation is transitioning from one-way assistance to two-way mutual benefit.
This is Minning Town in Ningxia. Thirty years of east-west collaboration have cultivated new things on this land. These are "high-quality tomatoes" produced by a smart agricultural base. Why are they called "high-quality tomatoes"?
Inside the smart greenhouse, when light, temperature, and humidity reach preset values, drip emitters automatically activate, delivering nutrient solution precisely to the root of each tomato plant, achieving integrated water and fertilizer management. Skylights open and close automatically based on temperature, boiler exhaust is recycled to become a "carbon source" for the tomatoes, and rainwater is also collected and reused—both environmentally friendly and yield-boosting measures.
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, the head of the smart agricultural industrial park, stated that the primary 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 benefits in land use and natural gas pricing.
This enterprise from Shandong not only grows tomatoes well but also provides stable jobs "right at the doorstep" for the residents of Minning Town.
We use electricity every day, but overhead transmission lines face numerous challenges. Bird interference, ice accretion, and strong winds, though seemingly minor, are significant causes of line tripping. 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 the first domestic company to develop integrated protective insulation devices. Their developed integrated protective insulation devices specifically address issues like bird interference and wind-induced conductor displacement that frequently cause tripping, making grid operation safer and more reliable. Furthermore, the company has independently developed insulator inspection robots that operate using drone-mounted systems, 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 the east 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 in northwest China to achieve 24-hour green power supply. How did this immigrant town, rising from a "dry beach," 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 pathways 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, capitalizing on Minning Town's substantial "wind and solar resources."
However, Minning Town was not always this "resource-rich." Wang Ruifang is the employee with the longest tenure 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, an employee of the Minning Town Power Supply Station, described the harsh conditions back then with the phrase, "No birds fly in the sky, no grass grows on the ground." Later, the government built a water tower in the town that required electricity for pumping. The power department erected the first utility pole right next to the tower. With electricity and water, people could live properly.
One utility pole brought electricity, pumped water, and kept people there. The turning point from "having electricity is enough" to "green power benchmark" happened on the rooftops of Yuanlong Village.
This is the largest ecological migration village in Minning Town. Rooftops of all 1,922 households in the village are installed with photovoltaic panels. The deep blue panels are neatly arranged, forming a unique landscape.
With an average annual sunshine of 3,000 hours, this is a gift from nature, allowing residents to truly feel that "sunlight can also earn money." Beyond household rooftops, many villages in Minning Town have leased out idle land to build more "sunlight savings accounts." People have also started planting and breeding under the photovoltaic panels, generating dual income from one piece 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, new energy has an inherent weakness: 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 Coordination Control System" was first applied here.
Relying precisely on every photovoltaic panel from rooftops to barren land, every wind turbine, along with a "super power bank" and an intelligent "dispatch brain," Minning Town's "Green Power Town" has delivered a solid "report card" 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 provided 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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