Electric cars not the best option, page-1630

It's a bit hard to get stories about renewable energy out of China as compared to the West.

That will be the advantage of a reporter in China. I am looking forward to his stories on what is actually happening. He already referred to the things like electric buses, the sheer number of electric scooters, the new ev models on the road, the number of charging stations etc. I'm sure people will be surprised how far China has gone ahead of us.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045616/china-tech-giants-wake-renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-still

" Last year the nation also saw some of the worst wastage of renewable power due to weak power demand growth, excessive addition of wind and solar farms in remote areas and a shortage of long-distance grid transmission capacity.In the worst hit areas like Gansu province and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, over 30 per cent of wind power generated could not be absorbed by the grids on average and wasted last year, rising to 70 per cent or more in the months when priority to use the grid transmission capacity was given to coal-fired plants that can generate both heat and electricity to meet heating demand. "

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/1933550/renewable-energy-purchase-norms-ease-grid-problems-china

Reading between the lines, it seems that there might be a bias to coal in some areas. Fair chance there is a bit of money changing hands in the background there. Makes you wonder why that is and what the similarities are to policy in Australia.

As to ordering renewable energy to be utilised, it sends an important signal I reckon. Renewable grids need firming and as we have seen elsewhere, a lack of firming is a reason to hold renewable development back. I'm guessing that the Chinese distributors favoring fossil are using the intermittency and stability argument which is fair enough. So, to counter that, the authorities are telling them to find a way to utilise these renewable resources and that obviously means flexible loads or storage.
Once that firming is added to the grid then there is no reason to not build more renewables.

Coincidentally, there is an article in RenewEconomy talking about SA going to 100% renewables and the problems in managing the excesses.

" The new South Australia Energy Plan has been prompted by new analysis by the Australian Energy Market Operator, which suggests that the growing amount of rooftop solar will mean that the state grid could experience “zero operational demand” within the next one to three years – much earlier than expected – and it needs to be able to “shed” rooftop solar on rare occasions to avoid the risk of a state-wide blackout. "

https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australia-fast-tracks-energy-plan-to-dodge-blackouts-and-meet-100-renewables-goal-43196/