"Growth Engines: Coal and Nuclear Powering China’s Economic Rise & Global Ambitions"

Source:

https://stopthesethings.com/2021/05/09/growth-engines-coal-and-nuclear-powering-chinas-economic-rise-global-ambitions/

"No country ever got rich without abundant supplies of affordable energy.

It’s all very well for the well-fed, smug and pompous to lecture others about the virtues of wind and solar.

But when you’re dragging hundreds of millions out of agrarian poverty, virtue signaling runs a very poor second.

And, so it is, with China.

The CCP isn’t mucking around with unreliable, intermittent and unstable electricity sources.

Instead, the Party has largely rejected wind and solar, with an acute focus on building coal-fired and nuclear plants.

Much to the horror of the climate industrial complex, China is building new coal-fired power plants, at a staggering clip.

... it’s also leading the world in the construction of new nuclear plants. In short, China is a Country that’s totally serious about serious power generation.

... President Xi Jinping announced in September the country’s carbon emissions would begin to decline by 2030, and reach carbon neutrality by 2060 — in four decades.

        In the meantime, policymakers are making clear that economic growth remains a top priority — and that growth depends largely on coal power.

        “Because renewable energy (sources such as) wind and solar power are intermittent and unstable, we must rely on a stable power source,” said Su Wei, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Development and Reform Commission.

“We have no other choice. For a period of time, we may need to use coal power as a point of flexible adjustment.”

In the meantime, policymakers are making clear that economic growth remains a top priority — and that growth depends largely on coal power.

Beijing has a GDP target of 6% this year, a level which analysts say would allow authorities to tackle long-term problems such as the country’s high debt levels.

“China’s energy structure is dominated by coal power.

This is an objective reality,” said Su Wei, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission.

CNBC translated his Mandarin-language comments, which he made late last week following Xi’s separate remarks at a U.S.-led global leaders climate summit.

“Because renewable energy (sources such as) wind and solar power are intermittent and unstable, we must rely on a stable power source,” Su said.

“We have no other choice.

For a period of time, we may need to use coal power as a point of flexible adjustment.”

He added that coal is readily available, while renewable energy needs to develop further in China. …
CNBC

Renewables were never going to be a viable option for China.

They gave it a go, but their experiments in renewables have been plagued by intermittency and issues such as wind turbines icing up in winter.

... one of their few advantages over the West is the Chinese government is dominated by engineers and scientists, people who know how to perform a few simple calculations.

China is the Fastest growing Nuclear Power in the world
Jo Nova Blog
4 May 2021

... Last September I noted that China was poised to be the largest global nuclear power by 2030, overtaking the USA in the next nine years.

In the last twenty years, China has increased its fleet of nuclear power reactors from three to 49, with 17 more plants under construction.

That means it will soon surpass France which has 57 reactors.

At the rate the USA is closing plants, China may hit the No 1 spot faster than expected.

China has also opened an experimental fusion reactor called the Artificial Sun, while the ITER international consortium keeps delaying the opening of the French fusion experimental reactor.

It is sobering to know that despite the rapid growth of nuclear, it is still only 5% of the total energy supply in China.*

Electricity generation in 2019 increased by 5% compared with the previous year, to 7.3 PWh, according to figures published by the China Electricity Council.

That from fossil fuels
was 5045 TWh (69%),
from hydro 1302 TWh (18%),
nuclear 349 TWh (5%),
wind 406 TWh (6%) and
solar 224 TWh (3%).
—World Nuclear Association

In 2012, China became the worlds largest power generator (from all forms of generation).

Since then it’s nearly doubled.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) notes that since 2012, China has been the country with the largest installed power capacity,

and it has increased this by 85% since then to reach 2011 GWe in 2019, about a quarter of global capacity.
—World Nuclear Association

... China has half the capacity of the USA in nuclear power, but it doubled capacity in the last five years while the USA closed 39 reactors ... "