The Change Mariner

China Braces for Power Shortages

New York Times:

China's galloping economic growth will continue to be dogged by widespread electricity shortages this year, a Chinese energy official has said. The deputy chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Song Mi, told a meeting of electricity industry officials that the country faced a shortfall of 20 million kilowatts this year - twice last year's shortfall, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Tuesday.

"This year the imbalance between demand and supply will remain sizable," Mr. Song said. He warned that electricity shortages would be most acute in eastern and southern China, where double-digit economic growth has pushed industrial and domestic demand to new heights.

The projected shortfall is roughly equivalent to the low end of that experienced by California during its energy crisis in 2000.

Businesses in the coastal provinces powering China's economic boom, especially Jiangsu and Zhejiang, are experiencing rotating electricity shutdowns, and are bracing for worse disruptions as summer nears, when a growing number of air-conditioners will put added strain on demand.

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