During this season, Pingliang is vibrant with thriving landscapes. Inside the Huating Coal Industry intelligent dispatch center, real-time data streams precisely manage the entire underground mining process; within the Pingliang Industrial Park (High-tech Zone), biological manufacturing workshops continuously convert corn starch into high-value pharmaceutical intermediates; in the Jingning High-tech Zone, modernized factories process automotive wiring harnesses for major domestic car manufacturers through intelligent production lines; and at the Kongtong District's low-altitude economy project site, drone formations open new pathways for urban governance and logistics distribution. Pingliang is undergoing a profound transformation, shifting from traditional heavy industry to intelligent manufacturing and from resource dependence to innovation-driven growth. An industrial revolution, powered by new productive forces, is stirring a wave of high-quality development.

Since the start of this year, Pingliang has adhered to the "three districts and one city" strategic positioning, targeting intelligent, green, and integrated development. By prioritizing innovation and tailoring actions to local conditions, the city has been systematically upgrading traditional industries, nurturing emerging ones, and planning for future industries. This has solidified the foundation of economic stability, strengthened the momentum for progress, and accelerated the flow of new vitality. The industrial landscape is being reshaped: development paths are shifting from "black" to "green", the industrial structure is moving from "heavy" to "light", and production models are upgrading from "manufacturing" to "smart manufacturing", giving Pingliang's industries a completely new look.

Ascending to New Heights: Traditional Industries Gain "Smart Wings"

The energy sector is the foundation of Pingliang's development. As the core area of the Longdong Comprehensive Energy and Chemical Base, the city has predicted coal reserves of over 65 billion tons, with 11 billion tons already proven. Faced with the industrial changes brought by the "dual carbon" goals, Pingliang has not treated its traditional energy industry as a burden but has instead used technological innovation to continuously reshape its competitive advantages. The Yabei Coal Mine of Huating Coal Industry Group features a giant electronic screen in its dispatch command center, displaying real-time data on mining, ventilation, gas concentration, and equipment operation. Staff can remotely control underground production equipment from the dispatch room. The mine invested 170 million yuan to build an intelligent dispatch system comprising three centers and 36 subsystems, passing the national inspection for the first batch of intelligent demonstration mines in 2023. After implementation, 202 underground positions were optimized or reduced, while coal mining faces achieved automatic cutting and support movement, significantly enhancing safety management and raw coal supply capabilities. A supporting 10-million-ton intelligent coal preparation plant uses fully enclosed belt conveying and intelligent dry separation processes, ensuring raw coal doesn't touch the ground, dust doesn't escape, and production water is recycled without discharge. This transformation from manual operation to intelligent control is not an isolated case for Huating Coal Industry. Shaozhai Coal Industry invested 165 million yuan to build a fully intelligent mine, becoming the first coal enterprise in Gansu to pass inspection for an intelligent mine. Pingliang Conch Cement has deployed an intelligent quality control system, using robots for automatic sampling and testing, keeping its product quality at the top of the industry. Progress in green energy transition is also notable. The first phase of the Lingtai Power Plant, a 2×1,000 MW project with a total investment of 7.882 billion yuan, has been fully operational. Using internationally leading ultra-supercritical technology, it has built a "wind-solar-thermal-storage integrated" energy platform. Pollutant emission indicators are far below national standards, with an annual power generation capacity of 10 billion kWh and annual output value exceeding 3 billion yuan, injecting strong momentum into the transformation of the Longdong energy base. In the first half of this year, the city's power generation reached 13.24 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 58.8%, and the added value of the power industry grew by 67.8%, becoming the core driver of industrial growth. Huating Huamei Qingneng Coal Chemical Company ensures stable production and supply, producing an average of 2,021 tons of refined methanol daily, realizing a leap in value from "black" coal to "white" methanol.

Marching into the New: Emerging Industries Form Clusters

If traditional industries are the "ballast" of Pingliang's economy, the rapidly rising emerging industries are the "strong engine" for long-term growth. Leveraging its resource endowments and industrial base, Pingliang focuses on key areas like biomanufacturing, paper products, and automotive parts, using a full-chain approach to gather emerging industries into clusters. The Pingliang Industrial Park (High-tech Zone) has built a complete "corn deep processing-pharmaceutical intermediate" gold industry chain. The chain leader, Pingliang Guowei Starch, processes 1.5 million tons of corn annually, making it the largest corn starch production base in Northwest China. Next door, Gansu Liangwei Biology uses glucose from starch processing as a raw material, employing self-developed bacterial strains and fermentation processes to produce pharmaceutical intermediates like cystine and cysteine, which are sold to over 40 countries, holding a stable market share in specific segments. Downstream, Gansu Xinyaoshao Biotechnology fully utilizes upstream starch byproducts, using liquid deep fermentation to produce feed additives like alkaline protease and Bacillus subtilis for domestic industry leaders such as Yihai Kerry, Shuanghui, and Kingenta. These three companies are closely linked, continuously extending the corn industry chain and increasing product value. The light industry cluster is also developing well. In Chongxin County, Gansu Yusen New Materials Technology is running four intelligent high-end tissue paper production lines at full capacity, with an annual capacity of 120,000 tons, covering the Northwest market and entering countries like Kazakhstan in Central Asia. In the first quarter of this year, the company completed a closed-loop chain from "raw paper production to cutting processing to terminal sales", further expanding its external sales channels. The automotive parts industry has grown rapidly from scratch. In the Jingning High-tech Zone, Gansu Shanghai Youzhengtong Electrical Systems has introduced over 300 sets of intelligent equipment and built a 260-person professional technical team. Using a "one-item-one-code" digital management system, it produces 340,000 sets of vehicle wiring harnesses annually, entering the supply chains of major automakers like Geely, BYD, and Shaanxi Heavy Truck. In the first half of this year, the company achieved an output value of 26 million yuan. Jingning County is using this as a breakthrough to accelerate the construction of an automotive parts industry base in southeastern Gansu.

Striving for Quality: Laying Out New Tracks for the Future

Technological innovation is the core support for developing new productive forces. Pingliang is deepening industry-university-research cooperation with institutions like Lanzhou University and Northwest A&F University, cultivating various innovation entities at different levels. The Jingning High-tech Zone, approved as a provincial-level high-tech zone in December 2025, has built three major industrial systems: agricultural product processing, intelligent manufacturing, and commercial logistics, gathering 177 enterprises, including 17 high-tech ones. Gansu Xiwu Youpin Biotechnology has independently developed a "four-steam three-bake" color-protection process, solving the industry problem of apple flesh oxidation during processing, and developing deep-processed products like fruit drinks and apple essence extracts, significantly increasing the comprehensive economic value of apples. On the basis of consolidating existing advantageous industries, Pingliang is taking a long-term view and strategically planning for future industrial tracks. The low-altitude economy is a key strategic emerging industry for the city. On June 13, the Pingliang Low-Altitude Economy Scenario Expansion Project was officially launched, marking the city's move from scattered pilot projects to full-chain layout and ecological cultivation. The event showcased multiple aircraft and supporting equipment covering eight application scenarios like agricultural protection, logistics, and emergency rescue, along with demonstrations of drone formation flying, smart firefighting, air logistics, and agricultural protection. The project prioritizes the low-altitude dispatch command center as its first supporting project, building an operation management platform and data middle platform, gradually forming a city-level "one-number call, one-network flight, one-network management" low-altitude operation management system. Application scenarios are advancing in four main areas: focusing on "low-altitude + urban fine management" for full-area patrols, construction site supervision, and ecological monitoring; promoting "low-altitude + agricultural protection and emergency disaster prevention" for large-scale crop management, forest fire patrols, and disaster response; exploring "low-altitude + air logistics corridors" for transporting high-value agricultural products and time-sensitive parcels; and developing "low-altitude + cultural tourism, health, and science education" by leveraging Kongtong Mountain's tourism resources for unique low-altitude sightseeing projects. The project also opens training and science education functions to locally cultivate new technical talents like drone pilots, low-altitude dispatchers, and data analysts. Industry leaders like China Mobile and Sichuan Tengden have deeply participated in the project cooperation, helping Pingliang build a low-altitude industry hub based in Longdong and serving the entire province. Shenghua Huadun General Aviation adopts a "technology R&D + scenario operation" dual-drive model, focusing on implementing low-altitude application scenarios like mountain agricultural product transportation, forest fire prevention, and emergency firefighting, building a full-area low-altitude logistics distribution network, and is expected to provide over a hundred jobs. Magnesium-based new materials are another distinctive future industry track for Pingliang. Relying on abundant local dolomite resources, the city is advancing the integrated development of magnesium smelting pilot tests and the industry chain, building a low-carbon, circular magnesium-based new materials industrial park at a high standard, aiming to achieve a magnesium smelting capacity of 100,000 tons and a magnesium alloy capacity of 200,000 tons by 2030, creating a new growth pole for industrial transformation. Building on its development base during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, when the city's GDP successively crossed the 50 billion, 60 billion, and 70 billion yuan marks, Pingliang has set a clear goal for the start of the "15th Five-Year Plan": to break through a total economic output of 100 billion yuan, targeting 110 billion yuan. To achieve this, the city is focusing on building one 100-billion-yuan-level clean and efficient coal utilization cluster, two 50-billion-yuan-level clusters for Pingliang Red Cattle and Jingning Apples, and three 10-billion-yuan-level clusters for cultural tourism and health, biomanufacturing, and magnesium-based new materials, accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system that highlights comparative advantages and Pingliang's characteristics: "1+2+3+N". From traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing, and from individual project breakthroughs to full-chain cluster development, Pingliang is advancing with an industry-aggregating, innovation-seeking momentum, driving the transition from "quantitative accumulation" to "qualitative leap" in industrial development. A modernized Pingliang, with a more solid industrial foundation and richer development quality, is accelerating along the path of high-quality development.