, Columnist
China’s Energy Crisis May Be the Birth Pangs of a Better Grid
There’s a silver lining in this fight to keep the lights on. Beijing has stopped bailing out state-owned generators, and that will ultimately force the economy to become more energy-efficient.
The energy crunch.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Never let a good energy crisis go to waste.
That’s been the maxim of lobbies on each side of the climate debate as power prices have spiked and blackouts spread from Australia, to Texas, and the U.K. in recent years. Those who rightly wish to speed the transition away from fossil fuels see the failure of largely thermal-powered electricity networks as a spur to remake an energy system that’s already failing. Those who want to impede that progress see it as an opportunity to smother renewable power before it grows any bigger.