Photos Capture the Breathtaking Scale of China's Wind and Solar Buildout

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Photos Capture the Breathtaking Scale of China's Wind and Solar Buildout

mrtksn

Comments (236)

zipy124
It is incredible to see just how many big-oil talking points there are in this thread. From renewable energies resource costs, to their land use impact. I didn't realise just how effective their propaganda was in the tech space till reading this thread. That is not to say that these projects should be free of criticism, but anyone who believes these negatives are remotely close to the damage that fossil fuels are doing needs to re-evaluate their world view.
roxolotl
It genuinely makes me so sad to see the US not doing the same. Having grown up to the constant beat of “energy independence” as the core goal of a party it seemed obvious that the nearly limitless energy that rains down from the sky would be the answer. But instead we’ve kept choosing the option which requires devastating our, and other’s around the world, community. That’s not to exclude the harsh reality of mining for the minerals required to build these, nor the land use concerns. But it’s difficult to compare localized damage to war and globalized damage.
ollybee
China has also just launched a megawatt scale wind generator a the helium-lifted balloon, the S2000 , they have active thorium rector the TMSR-LF1 and GW/h Vandium flow battery. The scale , speed and breadth of what they are doing is incredible and I think missed my people
ranguna
Technological, manufacturing and energy advancements aside (congrats China on those), the pictures look beautiful. Amazing work from the photographer.
CuriouslyC
One neat thing is that solar/wind farms can be multi-use. You can position panels to provide shade and wind-break to provide micro-climates for plants and animals.
greggsy
Also worth checking out some of the mega projects on Open Infrastructure Maps like this one in central China.https://openinframap.org/#9.12/36.0832/100.4215/A,B,L,P,S
c-flow
Meanwhile, in London, UK, local council doesn't allow you to put anything on your rooftop that doesn't gel with the Victorian look..
gehsty
Chinas policy around energy works and it has allowed them to become the world’s engine for renewable power. They get the benefit of energy efficiency and being a critical trade partner for every country in the world.My experience is that the UK (for example) doesn’t really know why it is building offshore wind. Is it to reduce bills to consumers (OFGEMS remit), is it to create local jobs in manufacturing (Clean Industry Bonus Scheme), is it to stimulate national wealth by ownership of projects (British Energy). It’s a mess unclear picture for me.It would be nice if politicians could spend some time trying to work together, cross parties a come up with some sensible resolutions and long term plans instead of trying to score points for soundbites and clips.
tim333
They've got some impressive power cables too https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20241113-will-chinas-ul...
jbl0ndie
That looks significantly more like a long-term energy strategy than grabbing oil from Venezuela and Greenland.
1970-01-01
This is more or less what we thought the 21st century infrastructure would look like in the 20th century. The only minor detail is it was supposed to happen in this country first.
neko_ranger
Country of facades and shortcuts. None of those are plugged in to anything, just a propaganda piece. They paint rocks green
lambdaone
Power is quite literally power, in both the physical and political senses. The Chinese know this, and Europe is catching up fast. American private enterprise knows it too.Battery storage isn't quite where it needs to be, yet, so there's still some need for fossil and nuclear power, but when it is, decommissioning the remaining fossil power system is a no-brainer, and those with the biggest existing solar and wind estates will benefit most, and fastest.
joejohnson
Meanwhile the US is using its remaining carbon budget to bomb and burn in one last effort to expand its dying empire. Eventually this system will fall, and the west will realize they wasted all their energy (literally) on non-civilian hardware that needs massive amounts of cheap oil.
xerp2914
Meanwhile POTUS has his head stuck in the sand [0]:> “All you have to do is say to China, how many windmill areas do you have in China? So far, they are not able to find any. They use coal, and they use oil and gas and some nuclear, not much. But they don’t have windmills, they make them and sell them to suckers like Europe, and suckers like the United States before.”One of the most factually BS statements ever.[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattrandolph/2026/01/12/china-d...
master_crab
One of the solar farms is in a tidal flat. Are those solar panels meant to be waterproof? I’d imagine they may not last as long from sea salt exposure too.
MarceliusK
On the one hand, the geometry is beautiful and almost serene; on the other, it's a reminder that decarbonization at this scale is still an industrial transformation of landscapes
otikik
Wow, pictures look great, well done Mr Weimin Chu
fuzzfactor
When you're not trying to act like the "richest" country in the world, the sensibility of asource of energy is a complete no-brainer.Even though associated costs exist, a free source is the lowest of its kind you can find.
expedition32
If the US ever blocks Chinese ports the lights will be kept on. Although I'm sure that situation will end with a mushroom cloud.
soundworlds
Beautiful!
globular-toast
> Heidu Mountain Scenic AreaNot so scenic any more... I get it, electricity good, but man are we destroying places just to get this stuff. In the UK I reckon within my lifetime it won't be possible to go to the sea any more. I mean, the sea how it used to be, without wind turbines in it. Fossil fuels gave us too much. If only we could figure out how to want less.
hotz
Depressing to look at.
Lucasoato
Why aren't we doing it in the rest of the world as well?
margorczynski
Wouldn't it be better to just go with nuclear? Isn't this a gigantic waste of space and overhead to maintain it? And how "renewable" are the materials used to produce these?
SPICLK2
I find the idea of blanketing mountainous wilderness in relatively short-lived e-waste just awful. Surely there are much better terrains for solar panels?
motbus3
I know nothing about the topic. Although it seems a better alternative than coal or petrol, is it free of side effects for the nature? I wonder if the heat that would be spread around the atmosphere and back to space can actually gradually serve as a trap for heat?Does this question make any sense at all?
avsteele
Beautiful pictures. To be clear: China runs on coal and will for the foreseeable future.https://www.iea.org/countries/china https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/coal-consumption-by-count...
lvl155
China is far more incentivized to champion renewable considering that they do not have the same access as the US. US is also on a path to quite literally invading other countries to extract crude and other resources. I don’t think China is in a position to do this, yet. If China invades Brunei or arrests Bolkiah, they will face irreversible repercussions.All that said, I don’t think wind and solar are the answers. Geothermal and fusion will need to be the solution.