Comment on AI experts return from China stunned: The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over
RandAlThor@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
China has been ramping up building of coal power plants, many of which are operating at 50% capacity: lemmy.ca/post/49779092
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
coal and NG electricity production declined in 2024. Building new coal plants doesn’t mean using them. Another 1tw of solar this year will reduce this further.
RandAlThor@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
They are building capacity for the long term. Power generation and transmission capacity can’t be built over night.
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
China builds coal plants for resilience, and national security. Its possible assholes will cut off their NG supplies, and Hydro is not guaranteed every year. Still, at 1TW new solar per year (10000 coal turbines equivalent), that capacity rate will keep going down. It does mean that China has no power constraints for AI/datacenters, and then no constraints on more solar or chip manufacturing.