Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout

Visuals and Scale

• Many praise the photo essay’s beauty and its ability to convey “planet‑scale” infrastructure, with some using images as wallpapers.
• Others say the scenes are now common in Europe/US and not visually unique, arguing charts comparing build rates would be more convincing than photos.

China’s Strategy and Mixed Generation

• Commenters stress China is building everything: massive solar and wind, but also coal, hydro, and a substantial nuclear program.
• Several note that while nuclear capacity is growing, its share of China’s electricity is small and shrinking because solar/wind are expanding far faster.
• Some argue the driver is energy security and resilience (including big “just‑in‑case” overcapacity), not purely climate goals.

Comparisons with US, Europe, and Others

• UK, EU, US, Australia, and India are cited as also scaling renewables, but at slower or more politically constrained pace.
• EU is portrayed as relatively far along in decarbonizing electricity; the US leads in new renewable capacity share but is still expanding oil and gas.
• Australia is highlighted as a rooftop-solar and grid‑battery leader, yet politically hamstrung on large‑scale buildout.

Nuclear vs Solar/Wind

• Large subthread debates whether China (and the world) “should just go nuclear.”
• Pro‑renewable voices emphasize cost (lower LCOE for solar/wind+batteries), construction speed, and avoiding long, expensive nuclear projects.
• Nuclear advocates argue for land efficiency, baseload reliability, and long‑term uranium availability, but face pushback on cost, delays, and waste.
• Fusion is widely dismissed as too late and likely more expensive than fission.

Land Use, Aesthetics, and Environmental Impact

• Some find panel‑covered mountains and offshore arrays “ugly” or a loss of wilderness; others say this is a small price versus coal, oil spills, and climate damage.
• Multiple comments note co‑use: solar with grazing or crops, wind on farmland, and multi‑use parking‑lot canopies.
• Concerns about “e‑waste” and blade recycling are met with data on 30‑year lifetimes and emerging recycling methods, plus arguments that fossil extraction is vastly more destructive.

Grid, Storage, and Reliability

• Commenters highlight China’s ultra‑high‑voltage transmission network and large‑scale batteries/flow batteries as key enablers of intermittent renewables.
• Several stress that in the West, the next bottlenecks are storage, transmission buildout, and permitting, not panel or turbine cost.