"Solar panels and wind turbines capture the fusion of the sun and convert it to electricity. And at the scale and pace that China is producing them, plenty of things stand to be swept away-including, quite possibly, the once seemingly intractable problems of energy poverty and fossil-fuel dependence. In 2024, the total installed electricity capacity of the planet-every coal, gas, hydro, and nuclear plant and all of the renewables-was about 10 terawatts."
"In China itself, vast energy megabases combining solar and wind stretch for miles in the country's western deserts and Tibetan highlands, each producing the power of multiple nuclear plants and connecting to population centers in the country's east via ultrahigh-voltage power lines. At the smaller end of the scale, panels have sprouted on rooftops all over the more populated eastern half of the country, thanks to policies that standardize the process and paperwork required to install and tie them into the grid."
China is manufacturing solar panels at an enormous pace, capable of producing about 1 terawatt of panels per year. Global installed electricity capacity in 2024 was roughly 10 terawatts, so Chinese output can materially reshape supply. Vast solar-and-wind megabases in western deserts and Tibetan highlands feed population centers through ultrahigh-voltage transmission, while standardized procedures have enabled rooftop deployment across populous eastern regions. Chinese photovoltaic panels are so cheap in some markets that they cost less than fencing materials, and the global glut has pushed average generation costs to about 4 cents per kilowatt-hour. No one is ready for its repercussions.
Read at WIRED
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