My answer on Quora to: What measures is the Chinese government taking to combat climate change?
- China manufactures most of the solar panels and wind turbines used worldwide, and produces nearly all of the neodymium used in permanent magnets in wind turbine generators.
- China is building plants to make more solar panels and wind turbines, and batteries for grid storage, and electric cars and trucks and buses.
- China installs a large fraction of all the solar and wind power plants in the world, for its internal use.
- China is in its last round of building coal-fired power plants. They are far too dirty, and cost far too much to run.
China started late, from way behind, but is catching up in many areas, and moving ahead in others.
One of the moldy old lies about renewables before COP21 was of course that China would never join in. I have mentioned that the old lies are not only dead, but have started to fall down. They are being replaced with new greenwashing lies from oil companies and the American Petroleum Institute and Republican politicians, who are all fighting a rearguard action in favor of oil and gas. But we will deal with that in more detail on another Friday.
On China, we have mountains of facts.
Coal
Coal in China - Wikipedia
China is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world and is the largest user of coal-derived electricity. The share of coal in the energy mix has declined during the 2010s, falling from 80% in 2010 to 60% in 2017. Domestic coal production has also decreased with a year on year decline of 9% in 2016. However, imports of coal have increased to compensate for the cuts to domestic coal production.
Overall electricity consumption has continued to rise. The rise in demand for electricity has meant the continued construction of new coal fired power plants. To curtail the pace of coal fired power plant construction, National Energy Administration in January 2017 canceled coal fired power plant permits that would have amounted to 120 GW of future capacity. However, local authorities seeking to create jobs have resisted the efforts of central authorities to cut back.
So China cut coal from 80% to 60% in seven years. Doing that three times more should take 21 years more, until 2028. Right? Or could it be quicker? Assuming that manufacturing of solar panels and wind turbines and batteries continue to ramp up in the familiar manner.
Solar
Solar power in China - Wikipedia
China is the world's largest market for both photovoltaics and solar thermal energy. Since 2013 China has been the world's leading installer of solar photovoltaics (PV). In 2015, China became the world's largest producer of photovoltaic power, narrowly surpassing Germany.
In 2017 China was the first country to pass 100 GW of cumulative installed PV capacity, and by the end of 2018, it had 174 GW of cumulative installed solar capacity. As of May 2018, China holds the record for largest operational solar project in its 1,547-MW project at Tengger.
The contribution to the total electric energy production remains modest as the average capacity factor of solar power plants is relatively low at 17% on average. Of the 6,412 TWh electricity produced in China in 2017, 118.2 TWh was generated by solar power, equivalent to 1.84% of total electricity production. The goal for 2050 is to reach 1,300 GW of solar capacity. If this goal is to be reached it would be the source with the largest installed capacity in China.
Solar water heating is also extensively implemented, with a total installed capacity of 290 GWth at the end of 2014, representing about 70% of world's total installed solar thermal capacity.
Wind
Wind power in China - Wikipedia
Feb 26, 2019 - China is looking to cement its position as a wind energy powerhouse.
Electric Vehicles and Batteries
Apr 8, 2019 - Booming growth in China's electric vehicle (EV) market won't slow because of Beijing's drastic reduction in subsidies, according to Fitch ...
China has emerged as a leader in both the supply of--and demand for--electric vehicles.
When it comes to electric vehicles (EVs), China might just have the upper hand, with domestic carmakers showcasing seven out of 10 new energy vehicles at ...
Battery Storage
China Making Big Battery Storage Push In 2019 | CleanTechnica
Dec 27, 2018 - December 27th, 2018 by Steve Hanley. China is poised to add a significant amount of battery storage to its utility grid next year.
Feb 8, 2019 - CATL is now doing similarly big ESS projects as Tesla. ... (CATL) launched in China‘s the largest energy storage system with capacity of 100 MWh, which will complement the world’s first multi-mixed energy power station, which combines into one unified system on the grid several ...
Apr 10, 2019 - Global Energy Storage to Hit 158 Gigawatt-Hours by 2024, Led by US and China. Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables projects a ...
The China Energy Storage Alliance is a non-profit industry association dedicated to promoting energy storage technology in China.
An Apology
I had laser surgery last week, and have not been up to par yet. The Renewable Friday Diary I wanted to do this week, on the profits to be expected from renewables (financial, environmental, in employment, and in lives and health saved), will require more work than I could manage this time. China is easy.
I am also working on a Diary for the Anti-Capitalist Meetup group on who gets to own their own means of production. Rooftop solar and electric vehicles will be components of my analysis.