‘Unprecedented’ China Power Outages: 2/3 of China in the dark due to intensifying coal shortages... is China about to implode?

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[–]Canbot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

Because China is enormous for one. Everything I ever heard about china's coal reserves prior to this was that they were massive, which fit perfectly with other undeniable facts like that they chose to build coal plants almost exclusively. You don't do that with a shaky coal supply.

We live in the age of propaganda, old info is better than new info.

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

Well they didn't have a shaky coal supply until recently. It only happened because Australia wanted to investigate the origin of covid, and in response China cut of all trade relations. They have to balance their economic goals with their geopolitical goals, and I think they may have miscalculated in this instance.

[–]Canbot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

According to this China produces just over half of the WORLDS coal supply. And has 13% of the world's reserves, one of the largest reserves in the world.

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Yes and yet they still became a net importer of coal over 10 years ago because they can't keep up with their own demand. Which is why them cutting trade ties with Australia was such a bad move on their part.

[–]Canbot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

They can scale up production at the drop of a hat. The reality is that with the escalations in the region there is a possibility of war, and with that comes gamesmanship, strategy, positioning, and deception. Project strength where you are weak and feign weakness where you are strong. Nothing coming out of China should be taken seriously.

It is simply unbelievable that China does not have energy security. It is very believable that they would stage blackouts, or simply create fake reports of blackouts.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I don't think they can scale up production at the drop of a hat. That's the whole problem

And the news is from international observers, not the Chinese government

[–]Canbot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

All the observers see is blackouts and state media explanations. They also saw people collapsing in the streets from a horrible new disease that turned out to be the flu.

There is no natural bottleneck to mining. You dig additional shafts, send in additional equipment and men. It is easily scaleable.

Buying coal from Australia is a strategy not a necessity.

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It is easily scaleable.

Yeah in a matter of months or years, not weeks. That's the whole problem

[–]Canbot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

So they have zero strategic coal reserves? Zero alternative energy reserves? No backup natural gas generators? No wood to burn in thier furnaces?

And instead of raising prices to lower demand they shut it off?

I smell shenanigans afoot.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

No they have 14 days of coal reserves.

They have generators which are becoming much more widespread in use by factories who keep suffering from unannounced electricity outages.

But the industrial generator market is also now very expensive in China due to the high demand. The video in the OP talks about this, it's actually a very interesting and informational video, you should give it a watch.

They felt forced to cut off trade with Australia because Australia wanted to investigate the Wuhan origins of covid 19, which was a quick and rash decision seemingly made in haste. However this geopolitical decision is now affecting their economy more deeply than anticipated, the longer they sustain this stance. It's a complex situation.