China installed a record amount of wind and solar capacity at home last year, data showed earlier this month. Yet, the country did not stop there. Chinese companies also installed record power generation capacity abroad as well—and half of it was neither wind nor solar.
Wood Mackenzie reported this week that Chinese power generation capacity developers completed some 24 GW of new capacity across more than 150 countries that are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The number compared with just 10 GW installed in 2023 and 22 GW installed in 2022, Wood Mac said.
A little more than 50% of that total was wind and solar, which must have made climate activists happy—but not too happy because the rest of this new capacity will run on coal, gas, and crude oil. The combined Belt and Road countries’ new generation capacity fired by hydrocarbons rose from 3 GW in 2023 to 12 GW last year. China also installed 8 GW of…
