There is a fair amount of "appeal to capacity" here. Solar capacity factor (average production divided by nameplate capacity) is at 10-20% while gas is usually at some 60% and nuclear is at 90%. When it is claimed that 90% of new capacity is renewable, that is before adjusting for capacity factor. Chinese wind, unfortunately, on average currently produce less than half the amount of energy that the same capacity does in the US. They have not sited as well and have major grid bottlenecks so curtailing a lot of wind. The dominant renewable electricity additions in China the last few years has been hydro, which is devastating river ecosystems.
In China, nuclear additions in 2015 was some 3 times larger than that of solar when adjusted for capacity factors. And India's 100 GW solar goal unfortunately doesn't go far. We shouldn't sugar-coat this. The numbers so far are still catastrophic for our environment.
There is a fair amount of "appeal to capacity" here. Solar capacity factor (average production divided by nameplate capacity) is at 10-20% while gas is usually at some 60% and nuclear is at 90%. When it is claimed that 90% of new capacity is renewable, that is before adjusting for capacity factor. Chinese wind, unfortunately, on average currently produce less than half the amount of energy that the same capacity does in the US. They have not sited as well and have major grid bottlenecks so curtailing a lot of wind. The dominant renewable electricity additions in China the last few years has been hydro, which is devastating river ecosystems.
In China, nuclear additions in 2015 was some 3 times larger than that of solar when adjusted for capacity factors. And India's 100 GW solar goal unfortunately doesn't go far. We shouldn't sugar-coat this. The numbers so far are still catastrophic for our environment.