Comment on H1 2025: China installs more solar than rest of the world combined
Five@slrpnk.net 4 weeks ago
- This is solar ‘capacity’ not actually used solar energy, because
- It’s being installed in Tibet, far away from the industrial zones of China on the coast, which all run on coal power which
- China is the largest consumer of in the world, making up more than 50% of their energy use by kW, while renewables + nuclear make up less than 30%.
China has no intention of switching to renewable energy infrastructure, they are building more coal fired plants and have instituted quotas to ensure that dirtier and more expensive coal is still their primary source of power.
If you want a green world, you can’t wait for a politburo to give it to you.
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
According to globalsolaratlas, solar output is among the highest in Tibet.
China is also known for high voltage DC power transmission over very long distances.
Are you claiming they’re building solar power stations and not plugging them to the grid? That doesn’t make much sense.
Five@slrpnk.net 4 weeks ago
That’s a reasonable assumption based on data from the Chinese Communist Party-controlled National Bureau of Statistics.
It doesn’t make much sense to overbuild housing capacity, only to demolish empty or nearly finished buildings either, but that’s also something that China is famous for.
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Some possible explanations for a metropolis sized garden of dark solar panels are: