# ChinaQueue — dashboard

Independent, observational research on China's power buildout. The site follows one
story in five steps:

- **Build** — what is going up: the GEM project pipeline, coal, nuclear, the desert and
  Gobi bases, the operating fleet, manufacturing inputs, and China against the US.
- **Waste** — what the grid cannot absorb: the absorption gap and curtailment by province.
- **Move** — power across space and time: UHV transmission, cross-provincial flows,
  province wiring, and storage.
- **Price** — the markets that clear it: the spot market, green electricity
  certificates and the carbon market.
- **Use** — where the power goes: demand by sector and the national AI compute hubs
  ([/compute](https://chinaqueue.com/compute.md)).

## Live scope (snapshot 2026-10-14)

- Projects: **34,295**
- Total capacity: **6,021.5 GW**
- Prospective pipeline (announced + pre-construction + construction): **2,493.9 GW**
- Under construction: **880.9 GW**
- Source: GEM Global Integrated Power Tracker (ArcGIS layer updated 2026-02-18; pulled 2026-10-14)

## The three-number tension

1. **Buildout — 2.49 TW prospective.** The active pipeline (announced +
   pre-construction + construction): solar 723 GW, wind 543 GW, storage 451 GW,
   coal 367 GW. Storage here is GEM's pumped-storage hydro; GEM's China export has
   no battery projects (NEA's battery figures are on the storage page). The pipeline
   is development activity, not a supply forecast.
2. **Absorption gap — about 0.51×.** Wind and solar are 48.5% of installed capacity
   (1,980 GW of 4,080 GW, NEA, July 2026) but supplied 24.6% of generation in H1 2026.
   The grid installs faster than it can absorb.
3. **Coal paradox — 49.7%.** Coal still supplied 49.7% of generation in H1 2026 (below
   half for the first time; NEA data via Reuters) while its buildout keeps growing:
   30 GW commissioned in H1 2026, up 43% year on year, against 2.7 GW retired
   (CREA and Global Energy Monitor).

## Pages

Build
- [Coal paradox](https://chinaqueue.com/coal.md)
- [Nuclear power](https://chinaqueue.com/nuclear.md)
- [Desert and Gobi renewable bases](https://chinaqueue.com/gobi.md)
- [Provincial scoreboard](https://chinaqueue.com/provinces.md)
- [Fleet — what China already runs](https://chinaqueue.com/fleet.md)

Waste
- [Absorption gap](https://chinaqueue.com/absorption.md)
- [Curtailment by province](https://chinaqueue.com/curtail.md)

Move
- [Transmission — west-to-east routing](https://chinaqueue.com/transmission.md)
- [Cross-provincial power flows](https://chinaqueue.com/flows.md)
- [Province wiring](https://chinaqueue.com/wiring.md)
- [Storage](https://chinaqueue.com/storage.md)

Price
- [Electricity spot market](https://chinaqueue.com/spot.md)
- [Green electricity certificates](https://chinaqueue.com/green-certificates.md)
- [Carbon market](https://chinaqueue.com/carbon.md)

Use
- [Electricity demand by sector](https://chinaqueue.com/demand.md)
- [AI compute hubs](https://chinaqueue.com/compute.md)

About
- [Methodology](https://chinaqueue.com/methodology.md)
- [About](https://chinaqueue.com/about.md)
- [What's new](https://chinaqueue.com/whats-new.md)

Interactive only: [buildout map](https://chinaqueue.com/map),
[pipeline explorer](https://chinaqueue.com/pipeline), [pace](https://chinaqueue.com/pace),
[China vs US](https://chinaqueue.com/race).

## Data

- [summary.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/summary.json) — curated aggregates from the GEM pipeline
- [projects.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/projects.json) — project-level pipeline
- [map.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/map.json) — province values plus the UHVDC, pumped-storage and compute-hub overlays
- [nea_monthly.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/nea_monthly.json) — NEA capacity, output and mix
- [h1_2026.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/h1_2026.json) — curated, cited H1 2026 snapshot
- [uhv_transmission.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/uhv_transmission.json) — UHV transmission routing
- [compute.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/compute.json) — AI compute hubs
- [manifest.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/manifest.json) — the full machine-readable catalog