(BP) -  To reinvent itself in China's new consumption-driven economy, one region will need to crush a few grapes.

After a decade of mining ever more coal to power China's economy, the arid and remote northwestern region of Ningxia is remaking itself as industry slows and demand for fossil fuels is set to wane. Ningxia has set its sights on becoming China's vineyard.

By offering tax breaks to winemakers, Ningxia wants to produce wine worth 100 billion yuan ($16.3 billion) by 2020, or roughly 4-1/2 times the contribution of its entire farming sector to gross domestic product last year, said Cao Kailong, deputy director of the region's forestry ministry.

Successfully swapping coal for wine as China shifts to a greener and more-sustainable model of development would position Ningxia as the example of how to make the leap from an "old" to a "new" economy, said Shen Minggao, a Citibank economist.

"How much value-added can the wine industry produce? This again is related to the quality of services and product and brand names," Mr Shen said. "Ningxia will have to compete with some European countries. If they are able to do that, I think the upside is huge."

China's growing thirst for wine means the market, at least, is on Ningxia's side.

Chinese drinkers consumed about 1.6 billion litres of non-sparkling grape wine in 2013 including imports, Euromonitor statistics show. Ningxia produced only 16.7 million litres of that, according to government data.