Power crisis made worse by drought
Source: Xinhua |
August 25, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A DROUGHT in southwest China that has pushed up electricity demand and crippled hydropower output is exacerbating the power crunch in the region, officials said yesterday.
In Guizhou Province, the power supply is about 120 million kilowatt-hours short of demand on an average day, statistics from the provincial power grid company show. The shortage is caused mainly by the strain on the coal supply and declining hydropower output, officials said.
Reservoirs around which Guizhou's hydro stations are located have dried up, reducing the province's daily hydro power output by 28.5 percent compared to the same period last year, said Zhang Quanyi, an official with the economic and informationization committee of Guizhou.
Zhang said the hydro-power reserve was only 530 million kilowatt-hours, about one-10th of what it was at the same time last year.
Neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is also being squeezed by the power crunch which has forced 1,000 factories and companies to suspend operations, local officials said.
The output of three major hydro-electric stations on Guangxi's Hongshui River was down 50 percent from a year earlier and experts suspect stations will run on low water levels for long time.
A lack of rain over the past few weeks has left parts of south China drought-stricken. In Guangxi, about 150,000 residents did not have adequate access to drinking water. The drought also wiped out harvest on 10,000 hectares of farmland in the region.
Demand for electricity has soared with rising temperatures. According to the China Southern Power Grid, demand in five southern provinces grew by 11.5 percent year-on-year in August, worsening the power crunch caused by the strain on the coal supply.
Guizhou is south China's major coal producing base with an annual output of 150 million tons.
But managers of the province's coal-fired power stations say they have little incentive to generate electricity as the government-imposed cap on electricity prices make the business unprofitable.
Across the country, power shortages are affecting a number of regions and the situation is not likely to improve in the near future, officials said.
In Guizhou Province, the power supply is about 120 million kilowatt-hours short of demand on an average day, statistics from the provincial power grid company show. The shortage is caused mainly by the strain on the coal supply and declining hydropower output, officials said.
Reservoirs around which Guizhou's hydro stations are located have dried up, reducing the province's daily hydro power output by 28.5 percent compared to the same period last year, said Zhang Quanyi, an official with the economic and informationization committee of Guizhou.
Zhang said the hydro-power reserve was only 530 million kilowatt-hours, about one-10th of what it was at the same time last year.
Neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is also being squeezed by the power crunch which has forced 1,000 factories and companies to suspend operations, local officials said.
The output of three major hydro-electric stations on Guangxi's Hongshui River was down 50 percent from a year earlier and experts suspect stations will run on low water levels for long time.
A lack of rain over the past few weeks has left parts of south China drought-stricken. In Guangxi, about 150,000 residents did not have adequate access to drinking water. The drought also wiped out harvest on 10,000 hectares of farmland in the region.
Demand for electricity has soared with rising temperatures. According to the China Southern Power Grid, demand in five southern provinces grew by 11.5 percent year-on-year in August, worsening the power crunch caused by the strain on the coal supply.
Guizhou is south China's major coal producing base with an annual output of 150 million tons.
But managers of the province's coal-fired power stations say they have little incentive to generate electricity as the government-imposed cap on electricity prices make the business unprofitable.
Across the country, power shortages are affecting a number of regions and the situation is not likely to improve in the near future, officials said.
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