It was in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart in the 1880s that Karl Benz devised what is considered the first automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen No. 1. Today Stuttgart serves as the headquarters of automakers like Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, making the city synonymous with speed. So it’s fitting that Stuttgart is now one of the sites where the country is racing ahead of the pack in one of the 21st century’s biggest industrial challenges.
China’s Greater Bay Area, surrounding the Pearl River Delta, is one of the world’s most densely populated areas, with 86 million people living in nine megacities. Powering this region is no small feat, especially in a country that is shifting away from coal, which the government vows to reduce to less than 58% of the national energy mix by the end of this year.