Money & Tech on Saturday

Coal, ice & gas turbines

Economy up 5% to $8.49 trillion in H1, sustaining post-pandemic momentum.

Finland no longer a major China-Europe hub after severing transit links with Russia and failing to acquire visa-free access to China.  

China is installing the wind/solar equivalent of 5 nuclear power stations a week. 

Arctic Express No. 1 rail-sea cargo service takes 25 days, not 45. China’s NewNew Shipping Line and Rosatom building five ARC7-class polar container vessels, offer normal, year-round shipping via the Arctic.

New supercomputing Internet creates a nationwide, Internet-based high-performance computing service environment. 

Microsoft Windows outage left infrastructure, airlines, banks untouched, thanks to a 2021 campaign to replace foreign systems with domestic ones.. It did affect foreign businesses and luxury hotels in China, however.

America’s chip industry in a death spiral?

Nuclear reactor is meltdown-proof. The first ever full-scale demonstration of a Gas-Cooled Reactor Pebble-Bed Module (HTR-PM) nuclear reactor designed to passively cool itself in an emergency did so despite the total loss of external power. 

Record low 53% of electricity generated from coal, down from 60% last year, while a record high 44% came from clean sources.

July CREA environment snapshot:

• Thermal power generation declined further, hydro rebounded

• Coal imports continue rising, stockpiled.

• Fossil fuel consumption share declined in 2024 H1

• Iron and cement production continue to fall

• Steel industry reaches turning point.

• Wind and solar surge in clean energy bases

• New energy vehicle (NEV) market share continues increasing

• 35% of provincial capitals’ average PM2.5 exceeded the national standard

• Beijing topped 90th percentile of ozone over 12 months

• Beijing recorded  highest levels of PM2.5 & ozone pollution

• NO2 fell in 80% of provincial capitals, PM2.5 still rising in northern China.

Solar tender prices fell 24% YoY.  Since engineering and labor are  no cheaper, declining equipment costs plus economies of scale explain it.

The PBOC has $3-$5 trillion of international reserves. Though the exact composition is a state secret, the USD share declined from 79% in 2005 to 58% in 2014, presumably falling further since then. Most reserves are in USD, euro, yen, and pound sterling—including $1.1 trillion US Treasuries, $217 billion Asset Backed Securities (ABS) and $273 billion of equities. Chinese enterprises have $145 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the USA and $83 billion in the EU. Many are state owned or can be linked to the Chinese government—like Huawei—and subjected to US and EU confiscation.