RE: Or it could use solar panel electricity to make solar panels.
They must have lots of sun that shines everyday in China, huh?
Have you looked at a map? Half of China is desert as in eastern and western Mongolia and the Himalayan highlands the have the second largest solar resource in the world after the Sahara. Places in China have not seem rain in 50 years there are places with 320+ days of full sun a year measured in the thousands if square miles. The upper Himalayan region could power the entirety of the world’s energy use with a few percentages of its area same for the Sahara the amount of sunlight striking the planet’s surface everyday in a single a single hour is more than humanity uses in a year there will never be a shortage of sun EVER. The actual numbers are below look up how big the Gobi desert is compared to 43,000 as miles. Hint it’s 500,000+ square miles and the Sahara is larger still either could power the whole world with a few percentages. Transporting all that potential energy is the issue. ammonia synthesis from nitrogen 80% of the earth’s atmosphere and saline water sources for hydrogen via saline electrolysis makes liquid fuel at propane tank pressures. Ammonia is transported around the world in million tonne quantities today so the infrastructure and knowledge is there. Ammonia has more hydrogen by weight than liquid hydrogen at Crum temps and can be burned in conventional Gas turbines with modified combustors or burned in heavy diesels like the size ships use 100 megawatts plus each a number of coal plants are looking at ammonia combustion to refire from coal in their boilers and solid oxide fuel cells can use ammonia directly for fuel. The truth is there is massive solar resources in the deserts it’s only a matter of time before humanity is powered by them. HVDC can send power 3000 miles with only minimal losses as in 10% that puts a good portion of the world inside that range from the world’s deserts all of North America is inside that distance from the desert southwest, the Mexican desert as well. Europe is that close to the Sahara and all of the major Asian cities are that close to the Gobi. Australia has the outback and South America has the Atacama every one of those areas has 300+ days of full sun per year. Let alone the oceans in the doldrums also peak sun days per year.