Caixin Summit: Overconfidence About Renewables Contributed to China’s Power Crunch Last Year, Ex-PBOC Chief Says

China’s excess of optimism about ditching fossil fuels for renewables contributed to last year’s widespread power shortages, said Zhou Xiaochuan, a former governor of the central bank.

China’s energy supply, especially electricity, “was more vulnerable than we had imagined,” Zhou told the 13th Caixin Summit via video link on Thursday, referring to the power crunch that rippled from factories to homes across the world’s second-largest economy.