hina‘s ambitions to influence the world economy will fail if it cannot meet its outsized need for energy, especially electricity, to power its innovations in artificial intelligence.
But in an accomplishment that is little appreciated in the West, China has made strides in meeting those needs by expanding its electrical grid and tapping new energy sources, including in hydropower, nuclear energy, and renewables like wind and solar energy.
More impressively, it is investing in a novel energy source known as green hydrogen―a clean fuel produced by splitting a molecule of water into its hydrogen and oxygen components with electricity powered by a renewable energy source. From green hydrogen it is possible to obtain green ammonia, and thus environmentally sustainable fertilizers, a potential market that China also intends to dominate. To learn more about China‘s innovations, I spoke with David Fishman, a China expert with the Lantau Group, a leading private sector energy, electricity, and oil and gas consulting group focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. The conversation is for our PIIE podcast, Policy for the Planet. David is based in Singapore.