Replies to post #547654 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Seriously? China is the leading employer of it ..
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/07/china-fossil-fuel-us-climate-environment-energy .

As well as a leading polluter.

"I think I recently saw someting Gerrmany is breaking away from those
but I can't remeber where it was.
Question is if sollar is so greaqt why doesn't China employ it
instead of selling all the panels?"

Yes, the statement is accurate: China is a global leader in both renewable energy technology and deployment, as well as being the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and a significant polluter. This "paradox" stems from China's massive industrial growth and energy needs, leading to high pollution from its continued heavy reliance on coal while simultaneously investing heavily in and manufacturing vast amounts of renewable energy technologies like solar panels and wind turbines.

China's Leadership in Pollution

Largest Emitter:
China has been the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases for some time, partly due to its reliance on coal for energy.

High Energy Consumption:
The country's rapid industrialization and massive population contribute to its high overall energy demand and emissions.

China's Leadership in Renewables

Massive Investment:
China is the world's largest investor in renewable energy and is rapidly expanding its capacity for wind and solar power, outperforming its targets.

Manufacturing Powerhouse:
It is the global leader in the manufacturing and export of renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels and wind turbines.

Leading the Energy Transition:
This dominance in clean energy technology gives China a significant role in the global energy transition and allows it to export these technologies worldwide.

The Paradox Explained

Economic & Environmental Drivers:
China's move to renewables was driven by rising costs, the desire for energy security, and a need to address severe air and water pollution resulting from its coal-dependent growth model.

Meeting Energy Demand:
The extensive deployment of renewables helps meet China's enormous energy demand, but this needs to be balanced with efforts to significantly reduce coal power generation to achieve its climate goals.

Global Impact:
China's actions have a dual impact: by investing in and manufacturing renewables, it drives down global costs and accelerates the energy transition, but its ongoing reliance on coal still makes it a major source of global pollution.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=china+leads+in+pollution+as+well+as+in+the+use+of+renewables+

You should know Yahoo has been leaning right for some years, and also that the search results you get are to some extent influenced by your past history and by the way you pose your search queries today. More than twice in the past month i have gone to Bing when the Firefox searches were so inadequate i felt the need to. How to get to Bing. You would use Yahoo to search for Bing.

[blackhawks]

China's use of solar?

Genesis AI

China dominates the global solar energy market, acting as both the largest installer and manufacturer of solar technology. The country is rapidly deploying solar projects and driving down global costs, though the industry faces challenges, including overcapacity and grid integration issues.

Scale of China's solar deployment

Leading installations: In the first half of 2025, China installed 256 GW of new solar capacity, more than twice the amount installed by the rest of the world combined.

Massive cumulative capacity: China was the first country to exceed 1,000 GW of total solar capacity, reaching 1,100 GW by June 2025. This accounts for over half of the world's solar power.

Record-breaking projects: In June 2024, China activated the world's largest solar plant, a 3.5 GW facility in Xinjiang. The country also has even more ambitious projects underway, including the "Great Solar Wall" in the Kubuqi Desert.
Diverse applications: While utility-scale projects drive much of the growth, China also has a booming distributed solar market, including rooftop systems for residential and commercial use. The country also leads the world in solar thermal energy, primarily for water heating.

Manufacturing dominance

Global supplier: China has been the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels since 2008 and currently controls over 80% of the global supply chain for all manufacturing stages, including polysilicon, wafers, and cells.
Cost reduction: By investing over $50 billion in its solar supply chain since 2011, China has been a primary force behind an 80% global drop in solar panel costs. This rapid expansion and low-cost production have accelerated clean energy transitions worldwide.

Export hub: In 2024, Chinese solar exports continued to grow, with exports of solar cells and wafers increasing as other countries, like India, built their own domestic panel assembly capabilities.

Challenges and strategic priorities

Overcapacity: Massive state-backed investment has led to a glut of solar products, causing prices to fall and profitability to drop for manufacturers. This has resulted in industry consolidation, with major players squeezing out smaller competitors.

Integration issues: The rapid pace of solar deployment has outpaced grid capacity, leading to issues like solar curtailment, where renewable generation is deliberately reduced to avoid overwhelming the grid.

Strategic goals: Despite internal market turmoil, China remains committed to expanding its renewable energy leadership. The government's strategy is to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and secure industrial dominance in next-generation energy technologies, including batteries and electric vehicles.

[janice shell]

Question is if sollar is so greaqt why doesn't China employ it
instead of selling all the panels?

Answer: What you say is untrue. China uses a great deal of solar power, but it still doesn't serve as much of the very large country as it could, and there are waste and disposal problems:

As of at least 2024, China has one third of the world's installed solar panel capacity. Most of China's solar power is generated within its western provinces and is transferred to other regions of the country. In 2011, China owned the largest solar power plant in the world at the time, the Huanghe Hydropower Golmud Solar Park, which had a photovoltaic capacity of 200 MW. In 2018, it held the record again with the Tengger Desert Solar Park with its photovoltaic capacity of 1.5 GW. China currently owns the second-largest solar plant in the world, the Huanghe Hydropower Hainan Solar Park, which has a capacity of 2.2 GW.[7] In 2023, China completed the world's largest hydro-solar power plant in Sichuan, which utilises the consistency in hydropower production to offset the variability in solar power.[8][9]

Solar power contributes to a small portion of China's total energy use, accounting for 3.5% of China's total energy capacity in 2020.[10] Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced at the 2020 Climate Ambition Summit that China plans to have 1,200 GW of combined solar and wind energy capacity by 2030.[11]. But China achieved 1308 GW of wind and solar by the end of 2024, six years ahead of the 2030 goal. China also added 210GW of solar and 50 GW of wind in the first six months of 2025.[12]

Solar water heating is also extensively implemented, with a total installed capacity of 290 GWth at the end of 2014, representing about 70% of world's total installed solar thermal capacity.[13][14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_China