The Hongshan Farm on the Hami Wind Line and the Gobi Desert have just been turned white by the August sun, and a bid announcement has once again drawn the attention of the new energy industry here. On August 17, 2026, the announcement of the winning bidder for the EPC general contracting of the 500000 kW wind power project of Yingke Huizhi (Phase II) in Xinxing City, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps was released. China Power Construction Group Jiangxi Provincial Hydropower Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. won the project with a bid of 1.6 billion yuan, and the unit price was fixed at 3200 yuan/kW based on a capacity of 500MW.

At the same site, the same main winning bidder, and the same 500000 kilowatt plate, when the bidding process for Yingke Huizhi Phase I was completed in February 2025, Jiangxi Hydropower's bid price was 2.065 billion yuan, equivalent to approximately 4130 yuan/kilowatt.

In less than a year and a half, the total price of Phase II was reduced by 465 million yuan, and the unit cost was reduced by 930 yuan/kilowatt, a decrease of about 22.5%.

Single machine jumps to 10 megawatts

The hardest change in the second phase is written in the unit table: installing 50 10MW wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 500MW. The first phase plan is to install 60 8.34MW turbines with a hub center height of 125 meters, which also reaches 500000 kilowatts.

The number of aircraft slots has been reduced from 60 to 50, which seems to be only 10 fewer. When spread across the Gobi Desert, it means that 10 fewer wind turbine foundations will be repaired, 10 fewer sections of power collection lines will be connected, and 10 fewer trips for large transportation will be made. The 10MW level wind turbine has become a mainstream option in the Northwest Base, with a larger single unit sweeping area and fewer turbine positions. The unit kilowatt consumption of roads, hoisting, towers, and cables is synchronously decreasing.

Save 930 yuan per year

View the two bills side by side: the first one is 2.065 billion yuan and 4130 yuan/kW; Phase II 1.6 billion, 3200 yuan/kW, with a difference of 930 yuan per kW.

The cost savings are on three levels: firstly, the large-scale wind turbine directly reduces the amount of foundation and road earthwork; Secondly, since 2025, the prices of onshore wind turbine hosts and towers have continued to decline with the release of production capacity, leaving greater room for EPC contractors to lock in prices; Thirdly, Jiangxi Hydropower has experience in reusing construction access roads, lifting sites, and grid connection procedures for consecutive phases one and two in the same city, and has a localized team to dilute mobilization costs.  

The EPC unit price of wind turbines included in similar Gobi bases in the industry is rapidly approaching the range of 3 yuan/watt. The million kilowatt project in Santanghu, Xinjiang, without wind turbine section, even reached 474 yuan/kilowatt.

New benchmark for Gobi wind power

3200 yuan/kW is not the lowest in Xinjiang, but when compared to a control sample of the same site, capacity, and general contractor, the signal is straightforward: the owner can significantly reduce the initial investment by switching technical routes through re recruitment.

For developers, spending 465 million less on 500000 kilowatts will result in an increase in project IRR; For the general contractor, the unit price is too low, compared to intensive construction and supply chain bargaining; For the Xinjiang market, the combination of 10MW units, Gobi flatlands, and large military bases is redrawing the reference line for onshore wind power EPC at around 3.2 yuan/watt. keywords:New energy latest reports

The next stage of the wind power competition is not just about who gets the wind resources, but also about who can lower the cost per kilowatt first.

Note: The first phase's price of 4130 yuan/kW and the second phase's price of 3200 yuan/kW in the article are both converted based on a bidding capacity of 500MW, and the data comes from the bidding announcement of the two phases.Editor/Yang Meiling