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Lei Zhang is the co-founder of Shanghai-based Envision Energy, the world’s second-largest producer of wind turbines. (Lisa Xing\/CBC)<\/p>\nNear the edge of China\u2019s Gobi Desert, massive wind hubs managed by artificial intelligence are churning out electricity at a fraction of the cost of coal power.<\/p>\n
Now, the visionary behind the technology says he’s ready to replicate that model in remote parts of Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For many in China\u2019s industry and overseas, Zhang carries a Steve Jobs-like aura \u2014 possessing a rare knack for generating excitement for futuristic power concepts and the industrial muscle to turn those visions into reality.<\/p>\n
Zhang recently invited a CBC News crew to Envision\u2019s head office in China, where he outlined proposals that have the potential to solve Canada\u2019s looming energy crunch \u2014 but are also sure to fuel fears that tapping into Chinese AI tech could give its government a “kill switch” over Canada\u2019s power grid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lei Zhang is the co-founder of Shanghai-based Envision Energy, the world’s second-largest producer of wind turbines. (Lisa Xing\/CBC)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Green electrons from renewables are actually … outperforming fossil fuel electrons,” said Zhang.<\/p>\n
He says the shift has civilizational implications.<\/p>\n
“I use the analogy very similar to a thousand years ago, with Chinese paper-making technology,” said Zhang.\u00a0“By providing such technology, we are able to make the cost of knowledge very low and everybody is able to share that knowledge.”<\/p>\n
He said China’s advances in renewable technology “provide new abundance for everyone,\u00a0for every country, for every company to have access to infinite, inexpensive renewable energy.”<\/p>\n
WATCH | Zhang on his conversations with Mark Carney:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775643309_470_default.jpg\")
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Zhang on his conversations with Mark Carney<\/p>\n
Lei Zhang, the billionaire founder of Envision, a Shanghai-based green energy giant, says he spoke to Prime Minister Mark Carney about how his company can help solve Canada’s energy challenges.<\/p>\n
It’s a lofty,\u00a0head-spinning concept that requires some unpacking. But Zhang says the essential component that\u2019s suddenly made green energy systems both economical and functional is AI.<\/p>\n
He says without an AI brain directing the system, building an energy superpower based on often intermittent wind patterns just wouldn\u2019t be possible.<\/p>\n
“Today,\u00a0we only need one minute to have the results of the next two weeks of weather patterns,\u00a0 to have better forecasting. An AI agent is dispatching the energy flow and balancing the grid at a millisecond level \u2014 no human is able to do that,” said Zhang.<\/p>\n
Envision\u2019s signature project is an off-grid,\u00a0closed-loop facility in China\u2019s Inner Mongolia region, north of Beijing. Sitting on the edge of the Gobi Desert, the plant, which was opened in July 2025,\u00a0uses 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of wind turbines to produce hundreds of thousands of tonnes of net-zero hydrogen and ammonium annually.<\/p>\n
![\"Envision](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775643309_488_default.jpg\")
Envision Energy is a major global manufacturer of wind turbines. (Envision Energy)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“We definitely \u2026 can replicate it in Canada,” said Zhang,\u00a0noting that Canada\u2019s vast wilderness creates endless opportunities for similar off-grid energy plants that could power the country for decades to come.<\/p>\n
“As long as the wind is blowing, the answer is in the wind.”<\/p>\n
Zhang confirmed he discussed his plans directly with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his visit to China in January. He also says he\u2019s had advanced discussions with other Canadian stakeholders in several provinces, although he won\u2019t officially say who.<\/p>\n
In his news conference in Beijing at the time, Carney said <\/a>Canada is open to such collaboration.<\/p>\n “Over the next 15 years,\u00a0Canada intends to double our energy grid through major investments in hydro, solar, nuclear and wind power,” he said.<\/p>\n “That creates tremendous opportunities for Chinese partnerships in these investments, including in energy storage and offshore wind.”<\/p>\n Despite Zhang\u2019s confidence in renewables to generate energy “abundance,” China\u2019s government continues to open new coal plants. In 2023, China was responsible for 95 per cent <\/a>of all new coal power construction worldwide. In 2025, the country brought <\/a>more than 78 GW of coal-fired energy generation online \u2014 roughly the same as what India commissioned over an entire decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n Greenpeace says the country remains addicted to coal as a security blanket for power shortages, even as it pushes renewables.<\/p>\n “China’s energy policy today is running on two parallel tracks,”\u00a0said Grace Gao, Greenpeace East Asia’s climate and energy project director based in Beijing.\u00a0<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n WATCH | Greenpeace director says China should phase out coal: Greenpeace director says China should phase out coal<\/p>\n Grace Gao, Greenpeace East Asia’s climate and energy project director, says China’s energy policy is currently ‘running on two parallel tracks’: renewable sources and the continued use of coal.<\/p>\n She said certain Chinese provinces, particular ones with heavy industry,\u00a0have been reluctant to pull the plug on fossil fuels entirely,\u00a0fearing 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.<\/p>\n “I do think China should consider setting a clear timeline for freezing out coal power,” said Gao.\u00a0“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.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Greenpeace also isn\u2019t sold on the remote mega-energy centre model. The environmental advocacy group believes systems closer to where people live are more efficient \u2014 such as China\u2019s rooftop solar program, which Gao says has turned 300 million farmers into power producers.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n For potential collaborators,\u00a0like Canada, the “AI brain” that makes Envision’s system efficient is exactly what worries critics.\u00a0If 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.<\/p>\n![\"Transmissions](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775643310_408_default.jpg\")
Transmission lines are seen in Hebei, outside of Beijing. Although green energy installations have surged in China, so have new coal plants, which continue to make air quality poor on many days in the Beijing area. (Andrew Lee\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775643310_211_default.jpg\")
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![\"Envision](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775643311_750_default.jpg\")
Envision Energy’s green energy plant in Inner Mongolia, on the edge of the Gobi Desert. (Envision Energy)<\/p>\n