# Methodology

ChinaQueue is an independent, observational tracker of China's power buildout.

## Primary source

Global Energy Monitor, *Global Integrated Power Tracker*, CC BY 4.0. The current
snapshot is GEM's ArcGIS layer updated 2026-02-18, pulled 2026-10-14. The dataset is
pulled programmatically from GEM's public ArcGIS FeatureServer and normalized to this
site's project model — no manual transcription — and the source release is stamped on
every export.

## Coverage & statuses

GIPT aggregates GEM's per-fuel trackers. Status categories: announced,
pre-construction, construction, operating, shelved, mothballed, retired,
cancelled. **"Prospective" on this site = announced + pre-construction +
construction.** Capacity thresholds differ by fuel (e.g. solar ≥1 MW, wind ≥10
MW, coal ≥30 MW in the GIPT summary tables) — see GEM's tracker methodology for
the exact per-fuel rules.

**Storage classification.** GEM's China export has no battery projects. Its hydro
tracker files reservoir dams as "conventional storage" and pumped-storage plants as
"pumped storage". ChinaQueue counts the reservoir dams as Hydro, so "Storage" in every
GEM-derived figure is pumped-storage hydro only. Battery (NEA "new-type") storage
figures come from NEA and Ember and are shown as curated, cited figures on the storage
page.

## Data honesty

GEM project-level data is research-built — some fields are estimates, and coverage
is more complete for some fuels than others. We show **evidence before effect**:
every load-bearing number resolves to its GEM release and method. Curated release
figures (e.g. the CREA/GEM curtailment number) are explicitly badged as such, never
presented as a ChinaQueue-measured timeseries.

## Official scoreboard (NEA)

We complement GEM's project-level data with China's official installed-capacity
statistics from the **National Energy Administration (NEA, 国家能源局)**, refreshed
monthly on the Insights page: installed capacity by fuel and average utilization
hours. These are the authoritative fleet totals that anchor the tracker's headlines.
This includes the absorption reading (wind + solar ~48% of installed capacity but
~25% of generation) and average generator utilization hours, which are monthly and
seasonal (310 h in 2023-12, 279 h in 2026-07).

## Boundaries

Pipeline/prospective capacity is **development and interconnection activity, not a
supply forecast**. Fleet figures are a lower-bound, project-level subset of the real
grid (GEM undercounts in places, e.g. hydro). Routing figures are province-level
evidence, not exact facility coordinates.