China looks to capitalise on Clean Energy as US retreats

Project reflects China's effort to reshape world order in renewable energy as the US retreats

China’s devastating pollution problems began here, in coal country, where legions of workers toiled and often died to exhume the rich deposits that fueled the country’s sooty rise to economic power.

Today, these muddy plains are home to a potent symbol of China’s new ambition: to bypass the United States and cement its dominant role in clean energy.

On a lake created by the collapse of abandoned coal mines, China has built the world’s largest floating solar project, enough to provide light and air conditioning too much of a nearby city. The provincial government wants to expand the effort to