Summer Davos 2026 Opens in Dalian as China Maps Renewable Energy Future
DALIAN, China — The World Economic Forum’s 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, widely known as Summer Davos, is set to convene in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian from June 23 to 25, bringing together more than 1,700 leaders from over 90 countries and regions under the theme “Innovating at Scale.” The gathering comes as Chinese scientists unveil a groundbreaking national inventory of renewable energy infrastructure, underscoring the country’s dual focus on global economic dialogue and green energy transformation.
Forum Set Against a Shifting Global Landscape
The main venue at the Dalian International Conference Center is “basically ready,” with staff conducting final preparations as of June 20, according to CCTV News. The forum arrives at a moment of significant global economic uncertainty. The World Economic Forum has structured the program around five pressing questions: shifting trade and industrial realities, China’s next economic chapter, technology in the real economy, jobs for the next generation, and the energy transition as a source of competitiveness.
According to the World Economic Forum, approximately 11% of world trade has been affected by tariff actions since the start of 2025, and the WTO expects goods trade growth to slow from 4.6% in 2025 to 1.9% in 2026. Nearly nine in ten of the Forum’s chief economists expect global growth to weaken over the coming year.
Gao Weiqi, an official with China’s National Development and Reform Commission, said the meeting will focus on frontier fields including artificial intelligence, new energy, biomedicine, and quantum technology, as China Daily reported. The forum is expected to showcase China’s achievements in high-quality economic development and convey the country’s confidence in opening up and cooperation.
Notable sessions include “Inside China’s Energy System” on Day 2, “US and China: From Here to Where?” on the final day, and discussions on how AI’s voracious energy demand intersects with the clean energy transition.
China’s First Comprehensive New Energy Facilities Map
In a development that directly complements the forum’s energy discussions, a team of Chinese scientists from Peking University, in collaboration with Alibaba DAMO Academy, has published groundbreaking research in Nature creating the nation’s first comprehensive high-resolution map of renewable energy facilities.
As reported by Guangming Daily, the research team used 0.5-meter resolution satellite remote sensing imagery combined with artificial intelligence algorithms and cloud computing platforms to scan the entire Chinese territory. The resulting database identified 319,900 solar photovoltaic installations and 91,600 wind turbines — the first-ever nationwide, high-resolution inventory covering both wind and solar facilities simultaneously.
According to the Peking University School of Earth and Space Sciences, the study, titled “Advancing solar and wind penetration in China through energy complementarity,” reveals that the effectiveness of wind-solar complementarity is highly dependent on spatial scale. Within a single county, less than 25% of areas can achieve effective complementarity. However, when expanded to the national level, almost any location can find a highly complementary wind or solar region elsewhere — though this often requires cross-provincial, long-distance coordination.
Unlocking 100 Billion kWh Through Spatial Coordination
The research’s most striking finding is that nationwide cross-provincial coordination could release an additional approximately 100 billion kWh (100 TWh) of annual consumption capacity — without any new installations. This represents recovering energy that would otherwise be “curtailed” (wasted) due to grid limitations.
Professor Liu Yu of Peking University explained the significance: “In the past, people knew from experience that wind and solar could complement each other in time — when wind is strong, sunlight is often weak, and vice versa. But how much this complementarity could actually alleviate consumption pressure has lacked a quantitative answer based on real geographic distribution.”
Liu further noted that this approach is more effective than simply adding more battery storage: “This is not generating extra electricity, but rather ‘picking up’ the wind and solar power that would otherwise have to be discarded, through scientific scheduling. Compared to simply piling up storage facilities, this approach can more effectively reduce system regulation pressure.”
Policy Alignment and Strategic Significance
The research arrives at a strategically important moment. The “Power Mutual Aid Project” has been included in China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) as one of 109 major engineering projects, as confirmed by the State Council of China. The study provides quantifiable scientific evidence for national renewable energy base macro-layout, cross-regional green electricity trading, and power transmission planning.
What to Watch For
As global leaders gather in Dalian, the intersection of these two stories will be on full display. The “Inside China’s Energy System” session at Summer Davos directly relates to the Peking University research, while the broader theme of “Innovating at Scale” captures the essence of how AI, satellite technology, and geospatial intelligence are being combined to solve real-world energy challenges. The forum runs through June 25, with livestreamed sessions available through the World Economic Forum’s website and YouTube channel.