From the Gobi Desert to Canada’s North: This Chinese visionary is betting on AI to power this country’s future

nigh the inch of people's republic of china’s gobi desert Desert, monolithic wind hubs managed by artificial intelligence are churning out electricity at a fraction of the cost of coal power.

Now, the visionary behind the technology says he's ready to replicate that model in remote parts of Canada. 

Lei Zhang is the billionaire founder of Envision, a Shanghai-based green energy giant that's recently become the second-largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the world. 

For many in China’s industry and overseas, Zhang carries a Steve Jobs-like aura — possessing a rare knack for generating excitement for futuristic power concepts and the industrial muscle to turn those visions into reality.

With the cost of producing green energy falling by more than 90 per cent in recent decades, Zhang says China has passed a historic threshold: it is now cheaper to build new solar and wind facilities than to keep old coal-fired plants running.

"Green electrons from renewables are actually ... Outperforming fossil fuel electrons," said Zhang.

He says the shift has civilizational implications.

"I use the analogy very similar to a thousand years ago, with Chinese paper-making technology," said Zhang. "By providing such technology, we are able to make the cost of knowledge very low and everybody is able to share that knowledge."

He said China's advances in renewable technology "provide new abundance for everyone, for every country, for every company to have access to infinite, inexpensive renewable energy."

Zhang on his conversations with Mark Carney

It's a lofty, head-spinning concept that requires some unpacking. But Zhang says the essential component that’s suddenly made green energy systems both economical and functional is AI.

He says without an AI brain directing the system, building an energy superpower based on often intermittent wind patterns just wouldn’t be possible.

"Today, we only need one minute to have the results of the next two weeks of weather patterns,  to have better forecasting. An AI agent is dispatching the energy flow and balancing the grid at a millisecond level — no human is able to do that," said Zhang.

Envision’s signature project is an off-grid, closed-loop facility in China’s Inner Mongolia region, north of Beijing. Sitting on the edge of the Gobi Desert, the plant, which was opened in July 2025, uses 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of wind turbines to produce hundreds of thousands of tonnes of net-zero hydrogen and ammonium annually.

Envision says several AI data centres in China are already tapping into the clean power produced by the facility and there are plans in the works for an 800-kilometre pipeline to transport the green hydrogen to larger population centres. There, it can be used to generate clean power while bypassing the existing, aging transmission grid.

"We definitely … can replicate it in Canada," said Zhang, noting that Canada’s vast wilderness creates endless opportunities for similar off-grid energy plants that could power the country for decades to come.

"As long as the wind is blowing, the answer is in the wind."

Zhang confirmed he discussed his plans directly with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his visit to China in January. He also says he’s had advanced discussions with other Canadian stakeholders in several provinces, although he won’t officially say who.

In his news conference in Beijing at the time, Carney said Canada is open to such collaboration.

"Over the next 15 years, Canada intends to double our energy grid through major investments in hydro, solar, nuclear and wind power," he said.

"That creates tremendous opportunities for Chinese partnerships in these investments, including in energy storage and offshore wind."

Despite Zhang’s confidence in renewables to generate energy "abundance," China’s government continues to open new coal plants. In 2023, China was responsible for 95 per cent of all new coal power construction worldwide. In 2025, the country brought more than 78 GW of coal-fired energy generation online — roughly the same as what India commissioned over an entire decade. 

Greenpeace says the country remains addicted to coal as a security blanket for power shortages, even as it pushes renewables.

"China's energy policy today is running on two parallel tracks," said Grace Gao, Greenpeace East Asia's climate and energy project director based in Beijing. 

"On one track, we can see the rapid deployment and expansion of renewable energy. On the other track, we can still see the coal is getting approved."

Greenpeace director says China should phase out coal

She said certain Chinese provinces, particular ones with heavy industry, have been reluctant to pull the plug on fossil fuels entirely, fearing the potential economic risks. She noted that the government of President Xi Jinping has so far refused to set a deadline for the retirement of Chinese coal plants.

"I do think China should consider setting a clear timeline for freezing out coal power," said Gao. "That can send a much more clear signal not only to the market but also to the local government to stop approving new coal projects in the future." 

Greenpeace also isn’t sold on the remote mega-energy centre model. The environmental advocacy group believes systems closer to where people live are more efficient — such as China’s rooftop solar program, which Gao says has turned 300 million farmers into power producers.

"The local farmers can use more solar power than they produce. And they can also sell the supply of electricity to the grid to earn extra money."

For potential collaborators, like Canada, the "AI brain" that makes Envision's system efficient is exactly what worries critics. If Canada adopts Chinese-driven energy systems, it isn't just buying turbines, it is installing a Chinese operating system in the heart of national infrastructure.

"We’ve got to protect ourselves against the Communist Chinese," Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in mid-March regarding the risk of Canadian secrets falling into the hands of foreign governments.

Ford has also called Chinese-made electric vehicles potential "spy cars" because the technology in the cars could be controlled by someone in Beijing — a claim Chinese officials deny.

"Of course we need to work with local partners, we [are] working with local regulators, we are working for full transparency," he said. 

China’s embrace of green energy is in contrast to the United States' full-barrelled retreat. 

"I’ve never seen a Chinese wind farm," U.S. President Donald Trump said on March 4. "They sell them to suckers in Europe." 

For Zhang, the shift to renewables isn’t a matter of political fashion or "sucker" deals — its inevitability is dictated by the laws of physics. 

China is busy building the brains that control these systems — and waiting to see if Canada is ready to plug in.

Foreign correspondent

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