Continuous heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures have
exacerbated power gaps in many parts of China and added to the
damage caused by snowstorms since the middle of the month,
authorities said on Tuesday.
The State Electricity Regulatory Commission said the country's
power shortage has reached 69.63 million kW, forcing 13 provinces
and municipalities, including Hubei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan and
Guangdong, to ration supplies.
Coal reserves are also down more than 40 percent year-on-year,
at 17.73 million tons, as of Sunday, which equates to just eight
days' supply for the country's power plants, the Xinhua News Agency
reported yesterday.
Commission chairman You Quan said in addition to the supply
shortage, the increased use of heaters and disruptions to the
transportation of coal have widened the power gap.
To help maintain reserves at major power plants, the Ministry of
Railways said yesterday it will allocate resources for coal
transportation, while at the same time adding hundreds of trains to
cope with the Spring Festival exodus.
Shanghai is reportedly buying electricity from other provinces
and adjusting power consumption for a peak in usage as the mercury
drops.
After weeks of foggy and wet weather, temperatures in the city
will drop to -3 C in suburban areas and zero downtown, the Shanghai
meteorological bureau forecast.
On Tuesday morning, Shanghai recorded one of its heaviest power
loads in winter, 18 million kW.
"It will be more than that today," Wang Changxing, an official
with the Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company, told China
Daily yesterday.
"That's almost the city's maximum supply. Shanghai will try to
buy more power from other provinces, but at this moment, most
places in central and east China are facing a similar shortage.
"In the event of an emergency, major power consuming companies
will be asked to shift or limit their working hours."
The highest load appears between 10 and 11 am when office
buildings turn on their heating.
"Companies that consume large amounts of power will be asked to
avoid such consumption during this period," Wang said.
Since Jan 10, heavy snowfall has affected some 25 million people
and caused losses of 3.11 billion yuan ($430 million) in nine
provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, the Ministry of
Civil Affairs said.
Nearly 22,000 houses have been felled by the snow, 155,000
people have been evacuated and 1.04 million hectares of farmland
have been damaged, the ministry said yesterday on its website.
In Shaanxi province, 940 people have been injured in the past
three days because of the heavy snow. Also, 180,000 people have had
their drinking water supplies disrupted due to burst pipes, and
more than 5,100 chickens have died as a result of coops
collapsing.
As of Tuesday, the unusually heavy snowfall has claimed at least
17 lives and caused widespread traffic and power disruption, Xinhua
reported.
The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Civil Affairs have
allocated 1.75 billion yuan to help disaster-hit areas.
The National Meteorological Center forecast yesterday that a new
round of snowstorms is expected to hit parts of the country
tomorrow.
Chen Lijuan, from the National Climate Center, said the extreme
conditions had been influenced by the La Nina weather phenomenon,
which refers to the extensive cooling in areas of the Pacific
Ocean.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency)