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Essay by Eric Worrall
“… With the right policy, coal is not essential to ensuring a reliable electricity supply… “
What can China learn from California’s coal power exit?
With the right policy, coal is not essential to ensuring a reliable electricity supply
Song Wanyuan
January 29, 2026
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On climate action California has consistently maintained a cooperative stance with China, unlike the US federal government.
As China watches its partner make major progress towards an energy transition from fossil fuels, what lessons can it draw from the experience?
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Wamsted believes replacing coal and gas with renewables and storage is the most direct approach – and this is precisely California’s method.
…“It is hard to have 1 v 1 lessons,” Li says, “but China can learn from California’s long-term planning – scaling up storage and renewable energy to accelerate the phase-out of coal. China’s energy transition boils down to coal reduction and phase-out. Large-scale energy storage is essential to enable mass and effective coal retirement.”
China still needs coal in the short term. Yang notes that Beijing municipality’s coal use has fallen from 30 million tonnes in 2000 to under 600,000 tonnes today. “I believe Beijing’s de-coalification is essentially complete. The remaining coal is mainly for heating in rural areas, which is dispersed and requires switching to electric, gas or developing renewable heating to reach carbon zero.”
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Wamsted says that in China, new coal replaces old coal, while in the US, ageing coal is kept as expensive power “insurance”.
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Read more: https://dialogue.earth/en/energy/what-can-china-learn-from-californias-coal-power-exit/
The suggestion China can learn anything positive from California’s energy policy example in my opinion is delusional.
Beijing did reduce its coal usage – through a massive programme of electrification, by burning that coal elsewhere, then sending the electricity to Beijing.
Energy prices tell the real story of California’s failure.
According to a report by Daily Caller, California electricity prices averaged $US 0.27 / kWh between January and August 2025.
China by contrast are around $US 0.115 according to Global Petrol Prices.
China’s electricity prices are just over one third of California’s electricity prices. If the problem is not California’s green energy policies, proponents of green energy have a heap of explaining to do.
This is the lesson energy intensive Chinese manufacturers are learning from California. The lesson is the green energy transition is an economic disaster, that if they don’t cling on to coal capacity, they’ll all be ruined.
Is General Secretary Xi Jinping pushing for a green transition? Absolutely. After years of bungled green policy initiatives, I believe the crazy old coot genuinely wants China to transition to renewables. But Chinese people and businesses are resisting him – not by openly disobeying CCP orders, which would be suicide in a tyranny like China, but through creative misinterpretation of the orders they receive.
What does the future hold? Will China follow California’s footsteps?
I believe the answer is no. In the last week there has been a purge of China’s military leadership, part of ongoing instability which has plagued the Xi Jinping dictatorship for at least the last year. Obviously we only get fragments of information about what is happening, and there are plenty of reasons why Xi might distrust China’s military leadership, but an obvious motivation for this instability is China’s ongoing serious economic problems. I don’t know how much Xi’s green energy follies have hurt the Chinese economy, but given outrages like Xi’s incompetent shutdown of the entire Chinese economy in 2021 (see above), I think its fair to suggest large numbers of Chinese people may be fed up with such games.
In addition China has launched an AI Manhattan project. They want to catch up and surpass the USA’s dominance of AI. Regardless of whether this project is successful, they’re going to need a heap of reliable energy, energy on a scale which top tech CEO Vimal Kapur recently claimed renewables cannot provide.
My prediction – when 72 year old Xi Jinping himself is finally purged, when soaring purges of Red Army Generals and former confidantes is no longer enough to secure Xi Jinping’s increasingly precarious political position, the last remnants of China’s green energy folly will be purged along with its chief proponent General Secretary Xi Jinping.
So China should emulate California??? Yeah Riiiiight!
California where someone sneezes and a wildfire breaks out.
That California?
California where gasoline prices are $1.60 above the national average.
That California?
California where electricity costs 34¢ – 56¢ per KWh.
That California?
California where power curtailments happen seasonally.
That California?
California where population is leaving in droves.
That California?
California where gerrymandering makes a Governor a King.
That California?
California where policy drives refineries out of state only to have the governor complain that they’re leaving.
That California!!!
When I read the title of the article, I assumed it was a sarcastic parody.
Me too except it’s from Dialogue Earth and not The Onion
Callyfornia is a one party state and doing the opposite of that party is a winner most of the time. China is also a model for what not to do….a bio-lab was just discovered in Nevada that is from China….China has a space program that is mainly propaganda purposes but they are looking for any minerals that they could harvest from the moon. China has a “satellite communication” installation in Cuba……amazing how China is almost everywhere doing up to no good.
And then there’s this . . . which provides a bit of reality:
China’s coal production in 2023 was 4.72 BILLION tonnes. It was 4.78 BILLION tonnes in 2024. And in 2025 it was 4.83 BILLION tonnes.
And its coal-fired generation capacity in 2023 was 1,10GW, which went up to 1,150GW in 2024, and then to 1,230GW in 2025. And coal-fired capacity under construction is 212GW, of which 100GW will come on line in 2026, and there’s a further 75GW at the planning stage.
Imagining that China has any intension of following California’s example really is . . . UTTERLY DELUSIONAL.
I thought that given her name, the writer would be speaking ‘authoritatively’ about China climate propaganda.
NOPE,
She is strictly London based. Former BBC reporter who then covered China for London bases Carbon Brief (“clear on climate”—alarm) and who now writes for Dialog.Earth which “serves the global sustainability movement”.
Just the usual UK climate fantasy.
This shows the power and complicity of the media. Just look at how many people believe China is “leading in renewable energy use” when it doesn’t even add enough dispatchable sun and wind power to cover its’ energy use increases. Adding coal powered plants at a rate that is greater than the rest of the world combined isn’t mentioned. All China is doing is installing renewables to hype its’ own products. After all, who would buy something that the manufacturers’ country doesn’t even use? Keep your eye on the pea.
They also seem to add new coal capacity to match new wind and solar actual generation (capacity factor vs nameplate)
Gavin Newsom is currently the odds-on favorite to become the Democrat’s presidential nominee for 2028. He is the perfect spokesman for their economic, political, and social agendas.
If he becomes president in January 2029, his stated goal is to completely and totally reverse every immigration, economic, trade, energy, environmental, defense, education, election integrity, manufacturing, foreign policy, and DEI policy that Trump 47 instituted between January 2025 and December 2028.
The Democrat’s stated goal is erase the entire Trump 47 presidency so quickly and so completely it will be as if the election of Trump as president in 2024 never happened. Trade policy with China and with other foreign nations will be reset to what it was in the summer of 2024.
It is also their stated intention to charge President Trump, his entire cabinet, and all his senior political appointees with crimes against humanity and lock them all into the slammer for their alleged crimes.
I agree with most of what you wrote. Only exception is I don’t think Newsom will be the candidate—he has messed up Ca too badly. But it would seem all the other possible candidates share the same goals.
And, if Dems win the House in the midterms, they have already promised a third Trump impeachment—grounds don’t matter.
OTOH, a bit of optimism. It seems Trump 47 will have accomplished most of his goals by end of his term. If so, then a Vance/Rubio (or Rubio/Vance) ticket looks like a near sure winner.
Vance/Gabbard! Can you imagine the soiled drawers throughout the IC if Tulsi can spend her time digging up ALL the bodies they have been hiding! She’s the hot mom who is majorly pissed at the kids misbehaving while she was at the store!
How many people know how bad California is? The MSM never talk about it.
The Democrats have also been talking about jailing anyone who worked for the Trump administration and make everyone who supported him suffer legal consequences.
Two Democrats that began a presidential bid, Jay Inslee and K. Harris’ first attempt, dropped out before the action began. Jay, especially, shouted climate from the podium. Gavin doesn’t have the baggage that Hilary did, but he has plenty. The Democrats have chosen unwisely in recent memory. They may win house seats, but they need a viable national candidate to take the presidency. Gavin? I think not.
California could learn a thing or two from Chinese belt and road dominance – and the British subservience to it.
No net zero for you unless…
That spy trial is stopped
That mega embassy is approved
ad nauseam
The UK is not a good place to be these days, sadly.
Commifornia is SO subservient to China that they actually cleared out the homeless and washed the feces off the streets before Winnie the Pooh came calling!
“Claim: China Should Learn from California’s Clean Energy Example”
Haha good one, I can hear the chinese bursting in laughter.
I think the chinese have already figured it out that California is really, really bad in terms of energy.
Only good to serve as a bad example, unsuitable as one to be followed.
Article tip – EV busses –
Leadership Fail: How Bureaucrats Botched EV Transit Transitions – PJ Media
Thanks, article will be published tomorrow.
PacifiCorp East (PACE) sends power to the LA Department of Water and Power most days after solar power no longer generates anything useful. Soon PACE will engage with CAISO in an extended day ahead market. It’s anyone’s guess how the “optimization” of the market will dispatch power north/south. Since electrons wiggle because of all sources connected to the grid there is no way at present to guarantee that California doesn’t get coal-fired power. We could, I suppose, supply RECs to CAISO in an amount to supposedly show they are getting energy that doesn’t exceed our capacity for renewables generation. But it’s all sort of phony.
This effort to eliminate all emissions of CO2 from the planet looks more each day like a religious quest. A religious quest that require endless creation of management layers to plan and execute it all behind opaque algorithms.
“endless creation of management layers “
It is a religious exercise. All those worthless social science degrees have to be put to work doing something. They are not capable of doing anything actually useful.
The. blind leading the lame.
The effusive admiration for China in this piece makes me wonder who paid Song’s wages.
Anyone with connections to China is under pressure to say nice things about them.
I once had a personal taste of CCP tyranny, I was on my way to Taiwan to help the Taiwanese government when I was detained in Hong Kong airport. My name was on a short list read out at the customs gate. An officer in full red army uniform motioned me to follow him and led me to a room, where he glared at me for a minute, before waving me to the door.
Let’s just say I can take a hint, I’m not in a hurry to go back to the mainland.
Crossing by Route 50 from Colorado into the benighted state of California I felt a bit like Jeb Clampett heading into the big city on his jalopy. I believe I paid $260 for a 1950’s era room with queen bed, non-working plumbing and a room sized and smelling like the great Kansas and Missouri plains-town motels costing $15 dollars a night. Then there were the primitive cabins and tailgating recreationalists, in Yellowstone. Trails are fine. People don’t like to walk.
The advice to emulate California seems apt. China imports 42% of its natural gas and 70% of its crude oil. And they can just import any electricity they can’t generate… like Californa does (25 – 30%)?
Every thing about Cali power is bad, somethings worse than others (except for this years 20 year license extension for the 2200 MW Diablo Canyon Nuclear plant).
Why California Residential Power Is Expensive (vs National)
1. Baseline Cost Level (All Hours)
Result: Even off‑peak electricity in CA often costs more than peak electricity in many other states.
2. Generation Mix and Policy Choices
Result: Average prices rise, and costs become highly time‑dependent. [solartechonline.com]
3. Time‑of‑Use (TOU) Design: Cost Shifting, Not Just Cost Level
Result: Bills are highly sensitive to when energy is used, not just how much.
4. 5–8 PM Peak Pricing: Where CA Is an Outlier
Why evenings are so expensive in CA:
5. How This Differs From Most States
Bottom Line
All lemmings and China should learn from California.
I fail to see why we should look to China or California for anything except what doesn’t work.
Technically, that is correct. You can also rely on natural gas, petroleum and nuclear power.
Apparently China is still operating 1161 coal plants that account for 55% of global carbon emissions from coal, and in 2023 its annual emissions were 42% higher than the combined ones of the US, Japan and the European Union. Yet there are dreamers that believe it will be able to be able to generate this amount of energy just by using renewables. Has California done it proportionately or has whatever it has done just driven up energy costs to among the highest in the US? The above map reveals the reality.
California has been doing the same thing.
Relying on coal plants in surrounding states while they dismantle reliable power sources inside the state.
Yep.
California owns ~25% of the 2nd largest nuclear plant in the US: the Palo Verde facility just west of Phoenix, AZ. Yet they closed 1 of 2 of California nuclear plants.
Regarding China’s continued building of wind & solar: the CCP needs to keep its population passified so they’ll keep nearly useless industries [like wind & utility solar] busy. Yet the CCP can still benefit by exporting these to unsuspecting countries [usually those that mistakenly think there is a climate “crisis”].
In the mean time, China will continue to prioritize dispatchable energy like coal.
Beijing municipality (?)
With the right policy, coal is not essential to ensuring a reliable electricity supply
Rubbish!
Big swings in Australia’s electricity market have a frustrating effect on our power bills
Econ101: You can control the quantity or the price but never both at the same time.
The delusion that you can control both together has impoverished interred and slaughtered millions.
“China Should Learn from California’s Clean Energy Example”
China HAS learned from California’s Clean Energy Example … that’s why they’ve taken a different route.
“…while in the US, ageing coal is kept as expensive power “insurance”.”
Hmm, why would you need power insurance if “Re-Nooables” could haul the load? The proper phrasing would be “…while the US attempts to prop up wasteful, marginal generation with reliable coal that the green pundits fail to include in their claims of cheap solar and wind.”
As of two minutes ago, no coal generated power is being produced inside California. Now the “Import” power, of which California has been receiving a very significant amount these past three weeks, could be anything. Effectively, move it out of state. Humbug.
How are the doing right now? https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply
The black line is “Import”, the brown line, local “Natural Gas”.
I think China has followed California on climate change – by watching what the loonies there have done to their economy and doing the exact opposite.