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'Unstoppable force' of solar power propels world to 40% clean electricity

(news.sky.com)
177 points belter | 1 comments | 08 Apr 25 10:11 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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bwb ◴[08 Apr 25 15:03 UTC] No.43622606[source]▶
I am excited to see the next 20 years :)
replies(2): >>43623200 #>>43623419 #
nxm ◴[08 Apr 25 15:53 UTC] No.43623200[source]▶
China keeps adding coal power plants like no other and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future
replies(8): >>43623271 #>>43623329 #>>43623436 #>>43623926 #>>43624447 #>>43624624 #>>43624821 #>>43627000 #
hnaccount_rng ◴[08 Apr 25 18:16 UTC] No.43624821[source]▶
They are already ramping down new construction and they are starting to replace older (less efficient) plants. It's quite likely that one of these last 3 years will have been peak coal in China. The bad news is: That's a lot of coal that being burned. The good news is: They are less reliant on "recouping costs", which means _those_ plants will be shut down as soon as that's feasible
replies(1): >>43626035 #
1. bryanlarsen ◴[08 Apr 25 20:17 UTC] No.43626035[source]▶
Also, they are steadily reducing the capacity factor of their coal plants. All of their recent coal plants are dispatchable plants, designed to run only when the sun isn't shining. So even though they are increasing capacity quickly, their actual usage of coal is relatively flat in comparison.

And they've started building massive battery storage plants, which will likely substantially replace their coal plants over the next decade.