Air passenger number CHINA’S aviation regulator said air passenger transportation number went up 252% in October from a year earlier, reaching 56 million people. The accumulated transportation number topped 520 million people so far this year, according to data on the website of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Renewable project A CHINESE firm will build a renewable energy project with more generating capacity than New Zealand in a vast inland desert province. China Energy Investment Corp. and its listed unit, China Longyuan Power Group Corp., are forming a joint venture to build the Badain Jaran in Gansu Province. The project will have 11 gigawatts of clean energy capacity, along with backup energy storage and fossil fuel power plants. The firms are investing 3 billion yuan (US$416 million) in the venture, which has not yet received government approval. China is building out more than 450 gigawatts of renewable capacity via desert bases, but even within that scope, 11 gigawatts would stand out as a massive individual project, trailing only giants like the planned 20-gigawatt Jiuquan wind base, also in Gansu. | 