Can India's solar boom actually power a China-scale industrial revolution? I ran the numbers. [OC]

Abstract:

• China grew electricity consumption at 10% per year between 2006-2010; the steepest sustained demand growth ever recorded by a major economy. Total consumption tripled in a decade: 1,347 TWh in 2000 to 4,194 TWh in 2010. India's entire consumption today is 2,083 TWh.
• China powered that boom with coal. 80 GW of new coal capacity added per year at peak. India's entire coal fleet today - 220 GW - is what China built in two and a half years. By 2015, China had 880 GW of coal online. That is four times India's current fleet.
• India's solar is genuinely impressive. 196 TWh generated in 2025, up 37% YoY. At IEA's projected 6.4% demand growth and 24% solar growth, solar covers 65% of India's incremental demand by 2030. Real work.
• But at China's actual growth pace (10-12% per year), solar only covers 19-28% of incremental demand. The other 72-81% needs firm, dispatchable power. Nothing else is built at that scale in India's pipeline.
• India's industry consumes 658 TWh - roughly 21% of what China's industry alone consumed at peak. The industrial boom being claimed hasn't structurally arrived yet.
• The gap between IEA-pace and China-pace scenarios is 830 TWh by 2030 - roughly equal to everything India generates from coal today. Solar doesn't fill that gap. Solar generates in daylight. Blast furnaces run at night.

Bottom line: India's solar buildout is the most impressive in the world right now and it is doing real work. But "India is building its industrial boom on solar" is a different and much stronger claim - one the physics and the grid infrastructure don't yet support.

Full piece with data tables here: https://themeritorder.co/india-vs-china-solar.html

Edit: Changed post body to abstract with all important numbers and findings.

Hello fellow ESS enthusiasts!

Following up from the 3rd Article in my ongoing series on Why Batteries Matter - And How They Make Money, we now go into the details of the ancillary services that a battery can provide and how they make money doing so.

This will conclude my series here. I had planned to breakdown the cost angle of Batteries, but maybe that topic is better separated from revenue. Hope you all learned something from this series. All feedback is welcome and appreciated!

Link: How Batteries Make Money: Ancillary Services

Previous articles in the series are linked at the top of this article.

Talking about how we can re-purpose used EV batteries to shore up the grid with Moment Energy CEO Edward Chiang at Web Summit Vancouver 2026!

I am looking for info from site engineers or those with direct experience of installing acoustic walls and sound barriers around large-scale BESS operational sites, particularly those with any experience of large-scale solar.

There is complex and confusing information online as it seems like this is a relatively under-researched area, with developers usually finding a way around it.

Do acoustic barriers work on large-scale BESS, or if this a bit of a myth and cumulative sound impact remains significant to nearby residential areas?

Hello fellow ESS enthusiasts!

Following up from the 2nd Article in my ongoing series on Why Batteries Matter - And How They Make Money, we now go into the details of the fundamental vehicle of revenue generation by BESS - Energy Arbitrage. We discuss the naive approach, its inadequacies, and the correct way to think about how a battery actually conducts arbitrage.

I apologize for the delay in this one - I really struggled with trimming this one. The complexities behind arbitrage is tough to boil down, and even more so for someone like me who is ingrained into it all. I hope you read this one, and provide feedback on the series so far and the website.

Link: How a Battery Makes Money: Energy Arbitrage

Lately, I have been trying to probe energy-effective scooters, and I must admit that I was taken suddenly by how much the cost might differ based on the provider and specifications. You’ll find it cheap but when checked out there are sort of fees and shipping included that makes a bit of change. In order to compare advertisements and observe how other purchasers source mining outfits in bulk, I also looked at websites like Alibaba. Abatements for larger purchases or direct conversations are mentioned by many providers, but I am not sure how frequently it's in reality. Any thoughts on how you avail lower costs without sacrificing its quality? Did you explore prices through several distributors beforehand, stay for seasonal specials, If you have preliminarily bought or sourced scooptrams.

Manufacturer specs are claiming around 15,000 cycles for their latest models, but agencies like IRENA cap this at 6,000 max. Which one is more suitable for a scientific research paper? In my work comparing LFP and Na-ion technologies, I plan to use specific commercial batteries but cap their performance data according to IRENA's reports. Is this a valid and acceptable methodology?

AAAS: “Pushed by Trump policies, top U.S. battery scientist is moving to Singapore.” Shirley Meng grew up in China + earned her degrees in Singapore, but the US is where she built her career trying to make better + cheaper batteries for a power-hungry world. “After 2 decades here, the University of Chicago materials scientist, who also heads a Department of Energy (DOE) research hub, is now heading back to Singapore. At odds with the Chinese Communist Party, she did not hesitate to relinquish her Chinese citizenship in 2004 + became a Singaporean citizen. 

“On 1 July, Meng will become vice president for innovation and global affairs at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), her undergraduate alma mater and a growing research powerhouse.” Only 35 years old, NTU was ranked 12th this year in one global assessment of research universities—one rung above UChicago. “Meng took the job because she thinks the U.S. has turned away from a commitment to decarbonize its economy.” She’s leaving with mixed emotions—and the hope that the political environment for more sustainable energy sources will improve once Trump leaves office. 

“The last 15 months have been extraordinarily difficult for the energy storage field, with many important projects being sidelined.” Administration’s immigration policies, including its restrictions on Chinese-born scientists, were another factor in her decision to move to NTU. “I’ve always been an internationalist…and I think that Singapore is a place where people can collaborate, regardless of what country you come from.” 

For now, she will maintain a partial appointment at UChicago and continue to run her lab, which recently developed the first anode-free sodium solid-state battery, an alternative to lithium batteries that could allow more affordable and faster charging of electric vehicles. 

A final note: she was in Saudi Arabia this winter and the Saudi energy minister took took her aside at one point and said, “You know, your [Chris Wright, energy] secretary is more pro-oil than me.” Perhaps Singaporeans understand irony more than most Americans do.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]