China’s clean energy surge runs headlong into coal dependence.
https://www.rfi.fr/en/environment/20251218-china-power-paradox-clean-energy-surge-conflicts-with-coal-safety-net
by Novel_Negotiation224
China’s clean energy surge runs headlong into coal dependence.
https://www.rfi.fr/en/environment/20251218-china-power-paradox-clean-energy-surge-conflicts-with-coal-safety-net
by Novel_Negotiation224
3 comments
>But despite the expansion of renewables, coal remains central to China’s power system. Beijing continues to approve new coal plants – not to drive growth, but to **secure supply in a country where power shortages are politically sensitive.**
>“Coal-fired electricity generation in China may not be rising, but it is not falling either,” Jones explains. “The system absorbs huge amounts of solar and wind, but coal is still there to guarantee stability.”
>[Coal](https://www.rfi.fr/en/tag/coal/) now acts as a buffer when solar output drops or demand spikes, and China is investing heavily in making its coal plants more flexible.
>“This is so plants can shut down during the day and let cheap solar feed the grid,” Jones says. “It is not happening fast enough, but it is happening at scale.”
>The next challenge is closing coal plants rather than simply building fewer of them. But for now, political and economic stability come before a rapid exit from coal, as electricity demand continues to rise.
I wonder in what developed countries do ppl not blame power shortages on politicians.
China mines their own coal..
China has tens of thousands of people employed in the mining and transportation of coal and the operation of coal-fired boilers. All of that can’t be shut down rapidly without causing massive social and economic disruption.
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