Photovoltaic panels are built over a parking lot to shelter vehicles in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in April. FAN SHAOGUANG/FOR CHINA DAILY

At the Shuangding Circular Economy Industrial Park in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a waste treatment plant is challenging the conventional image of such facilities.

There is no pungent smell or smoke-filled sky. Instead, there is a garden-like compound and automated treatment lines that sort, incinerate and process urban waste, converting it into electricity, heat and construction materials.

The plant provides a glimpse into Guangxi's push to turn household garbage, kitchen waste, urban sludge and medical waste into usable resources via coordinated treatment facilities, rather than simply burying or discarding them. The Shuangding park, operational since late 2021, is the region's first facility of this kind.

Developed, built and operated by Guangxi Green City Environmental Development Group, a subsidiary of Nanning Jianning Water Investment Group, the park spans some 73 hectares. To date, around half of the site has been constructed, with total investment in the project estimated at 2.56 billion yuan ($379.33 million).

Chen Xuewen, deputy general manager of Nanning Jianning Water Investment Group, said the park is built around the principle of energy recycling, with its coordinated treatment system anchored by the incineration of household waste to generate electricity.

While electricity generated from waste incineration is fed into the national grid, residual heat is piped to facilities that treat organic waste, sludge and medical waste. "This improves overall energy efficiency," Chen said.

Equipped with three furnaces, the park's household waste incineration plant has a daily treatment capacity of 2,250 metric tons. Each ton of raw household waste processed can generate nearly 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity, roughly equivalent to the power consumption of a three-person household for three months, he added.

Great emphasis has been placed on reducing secondary pollution. A wastewater treatment facility with a daily capacity of 1,700 tons handles leachate, production wastewater and domestic sewage. After advanced treatment, the water is reused for cooling, landscaping and other production purposes within the park.

Slag left after incineration is processed to recover metals, while the remaining material is made into eco-friendly bricks or roadbed materials. Fly ash, which accounts for about 2 to 3 percent of incinerated waste, is stabilized and solidified before being sent to a designated landfill for safe disposal.

To control emissions, the park employs a seven-step flue gas purification system, integrating technologies including denitrification, deacidification and dust filtration. Chen said the facility's emission indicators are stricter than China's national standards and European Union limits.

Workers install PV panels in Nanning's Binyang county in March last year. ZENG XIANGZHONG/FOR CHINA DAILY

Since starting operations, the park has treated 4.7 million tons of solid waste, generated 1.87 billion kWh of electricity, saved 410,200 tons of standard coal and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 1.03 million tons.

Beyond the park's own achievements, Nanning has been building a citywide recycling system that covers industrial, household, construction, agricultural and hazardous waste, according to local authorities.

The resource utilization rate for household waste in the city has reached 86.65 percent. For hazardous waste, the utilization and disposal rate stands at 96.98 percent, while the harmless disposal rate for medical waste remains at 100 percent.

Nanning has also made notable progress in clean energy development. As of the end of 2025, renewable energy accounted for 85 percent of the city's installed power generation capacity and 70 percent of its actual electricity generation, according to city authorities.

While renewable energy development has been robust, the inherent intermittency and variability of wind and solar generation have created significant challenges for the city's power grid.

Against this backdrop, Nanning authorities launched the construction of the Nanning Pumped-Storage Power Station in July 2022. Its upper reservoir sits on Baizao Mountain, while the lower reservoir is located about 3 kilometers to the southwest. With a height difference of 470 meters between the two reservoirs, the station functions as a large-scale energy storage facility for the grid.

As a traditional method of energy storage, pumped storage uses surplus electricity during off-peak hours to pump water to the upper reservoir and then releases it to generate power when demand rises.

With a total investment of 7.93 billion yuan, the Nanning Pumped-Storage Power Station features four 300-megawatt units, giving it total installed capacity of 1,200 MW and a designed annual power generation of nearly 1 billion kWh.

Liu Yi, deputy general manager of Nanning Pumped Storage Co, said that as of May 31, the station had generated 239 million kWh of electricity and consumed 297 million kWh for pumping, with overall efficiency reaching 80 percent.

He added that the power station has provided strong support for the local power grid in peak shaving, frequency regulation and emergency reserve, significantly enhancing grid reliability.

The company has also built a supporting battery-swapping station for heavy-duty electric trucks, equipped with 20 electric vehicles and four 300-kW charging piles, enabling rapid battery swaps in just 3 to 5 minutes. According to the company, the station saves 680,000 liters of fuel annually and cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 1,800 tons per year.

Source: By HOU LIQIANG and SHI RUIPENG in Nanning, chinadaily.com, Aug. 10, 2026

【https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202608/10/WS6a7927a4a310986e2b469d2d_1.html】