This week, we return to China. David Fishman, senior manager at The Lantau Group, joins me again to dissect the unprecedented scale of China’s electrification, which Fishman says is driven by a mix of state planning, brutal market competition, and strategic energy security concerns. Our discussion ranges from the world's largest hydro projects to a coal industry that refuses to die; the forces driving China's power sector; the balance between state planning and market competition; and how this all fits into the larger economic shift towards innovation-driven, rather than imitiation-driven, growth.
Extended shownotes: https://open.substack.com/pub/decouple/p/china-the-electrostate
Episode title on podcast platforms: "China, the Electrostate"
David Fishman on X: https://x.com/pretentiouswhat
Listen to Decouple on:
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PNr3ml8nEQotWWavE9kQz
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• Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ehbfrn44
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Website: https://www.decouple.media
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:14 China's Electrification Journey
05:48 Hydropower in China
17:04 The Coal Conundrum
25:36 China's Massive Coal Power Expansion
27:44 China's Electricity Consumption Trends
32:27 Innovation in China's Energy Sector
40:08 The Future of Batteries and Green Hydrogen