From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Philip Bratby
China is building a vast array of new coal-fired power stations, potentially more than the operating capacity of the US, even though it knows the plants will probably never be fully used.
The puzzle of why the world’s leading installer of clean energy is investing so much in the worst polluting — and increasingly expensive — fossil fuel shows the depth of Beijing’s concern over the global squeeze in energy supplies. But it also reflects planning for a gradual relegation of coal’s role, from prime power source to a widely available but often idle backup to China’s rapidly expanding renewables fleet.
Who writes this drivel?
There is only one reason why China is still building new coal plants – that is because they know that they need dispatchable power, and not intermittent renewables. Even if you believe Xi’s promise to hit net zero by 2060, they will still need lots of coal power in the meantime. Much of its older coal capacity will be long gone by then.
In addition, rising demand for electricity cannot be wholly met by wind and solar power.
As for this “rapidly expanding renewables fleet”, does not Bloomberg actually check the data? Wind and solar power still only account for a tiny 11% of electricity generation.
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I am constantly surprised by the lack of math skills by the brain trust at Bloomberg. World energy use is expanding by about 4%/yr. At best, unreliables can only install about 4% of the capacity each year. How many years before unreliables displace fossil fuels? Never!
So! 20 years so far at least on major spending on wind and solar worldwide , at least 6 trillion USD spent , 2.2 Trillion this year alone (2022) yet these two “sources” only make up 2-3 % of total global generation , WOA!!!! .
And these are the ‘future ” great white hope ! Hydro is taped out , geothermal is very limited and specific , Nuclear terrifies everyone, unfortunately .
So to become zero carbon as most countries are proclaiming sometime in the future , 2030 , 2040, 2050 etc that would require Petrol and Diesel to be replaced with Electric???
That is an absolutely colossal electricity Generation increase requirement beyond my ability to comprehend how that could be done without scores of Nuclear plants.
Certainly not with wind turbines and solar panels let alone backup with batteries. And this clown above stating that the Chinese coal plants are not going to be run at baseload levels but just as backup to wind and solar , what!!!!!
What a moron , does he think coal plants can just be started up to output in 5 minutes or 10 or 20 or 45 , more like at least 4-6 hours from cold and if left “idling” 10-15 minutes but using significant quantities of coal just to keep it “warm”
I thought I once read China promised to be net zero by 2030, 2050, and apparently now 2060?