<
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-07-16/chinas-renewable-energy-boom-breaks-records/104086640>
'While Australia debates the merits of going nuclear and frustration grows over
the slower-than-needed rollout of solar and wind power, China is going all in
on renewables.
New figures show the pace of its clean energy transition is roughly the
equivalent of installing five large-scale nuclear power plants worth of
renewables every week.
A report by Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF) said China was
installing renewables so rapidly it would meet its end-of-2030 target by the
end of this month — or 6.5 years early.
It's installing at least 10 gigawatts of wind and solar generation capacity
every fortnight.
By comparison, experts have said the Coalition's plan to build seven nuclear
power plants would add fewer than 10GW of generation capacity to the grid
sometime after 2035.
Energy experts are looking to China, the world's largest emitter, once seen as
a climate villain, for lessons on how to go green, fast.
"We've seen America under President Biden throw a trillion dollars on the table
[for clean energy]," CEF director Tim Buckley said.
"China's response to that has been to double down and go twice as fast."
Smart Energy Council CEO John Grimes, who recently returned from a Shanghai
energy conference, said China has decarbonised its grid almost as quickly as
Australia, despite having a much harder task due to the scale of its energy
demand.
"They have clear targets and every part of their government is harnessed to
deliver the plan," he said.
China accounts for about a third of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. A
recent drop in emissions (the first since relaxing COVID-19 restrictions),
combined with the decarbonisation of the power grid, may mean the country's
emissions have peaked.
"With the power sector going green, emissions are set to plateau and then
progressively fall towards 2030 and beyond," CEF China energy policy analyst
Xuyang Dong said.
So how is China building and connecting panels so fast, and what's the role of
nuclear in its transition?'
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
