Abstract: Under the dual strategic background of the “dual carbon” goal and the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, the resource-based cities led by coal are facing unprecedented severe pressure on energy structure transformation and sustainable development. This paper takes Wuhai City, a typical city that is highly dependent on coal resources, as the research object, analyzes the current status of its energy structure and the core challenges encountered in the process of low-carbon transformation, and reveals its structural contradictions such as long-term coal dominance on the supply side, prominent industrial energy consumption intensity on the demand side, insufficient development and utilization of renewable energy, as well as institutional constraints such as lagging institutional mechanism innovation and insufficient policy coordination. This paper further analyzes the internal and external driving mechanisms that promote the transformation of energy structure in Wuhai City, including multiple driving forces such as target pushing, policy traction, safety demands and ecological governance. On this basis, this paper proposes a three-dimensional system transformation path of “supply-side cleanliness, consumption-side electrification and efficiency, and system and policy coordination”, and constructs a comprehensive policy response system covering top-level design guidance, economic incentive tools, scientific and technological innovation support and market mechanism reform. The research results show that Wuhai City needs to focus on key measures such as the development of wind, solar and hydrogen storage integration bases, clean and flexible transformation of coal power, deep carbon reduction of industrial processes, and integration of smart energy systems to break the high-carbon lock-in path and achieve low-carbon transformation of the energy structure and sustainable development of regional economy and society. The research not only provides a theoretical basis and path reference for the green and low-carbon development of Wuhai City, but also provides a practical paradigm for resource-based cities in the central and western regions, especially coal-based cities in the Yellow River Basin, to explore green transformation.