Tight electricity supplies reflect high heating demand in winter

Several provinces in China announced that electricity loads have increased rapidly and issued proposals to save electricity and start its orderly use.

Analysts said that as China enters the coldest season, heating demand is surging while there is a temporary supply shortage, for many reasons. As China mainly uses coal for electricity, a shortage in coal has also dragged down the supply of electricity.

Growth of industrial production and low temperatures have led to a surge in power demand beyond expectations. So far, electricity supply has remained stable, leaving residents unaffected. China has taken measures to ensure power supply, said China’s top economic planner on Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The power load of the electricity grid in East China’s Jiangxi Province reached a new high on Monday, prompting Jiangxi’s economic planners to interrupt the power supply of some users during peak hours from Tuesday.

Other provinces, including East China’s Zhejiang Province and Central

China’s Hunan Province, also moved to conserve electricity, and called on business users to provide their own emergency power supply. In the southern part of China, people mainly use electric appliances such as space heaters and air conditioners for heating.

A director of the China Renewable Energy Society, who declined to be identified, said that China actually has a tiny surplus of electricity, and electricity rates have been falling.

“The main reason for the electricity shortages is the sudden drop in temperatures in the south, which has led to a surge in demand for electricity and affected supply. In the south, due to high humidity and low temperatures, freezing rain easily forms, and it will affect power towers and transmission lines, and therefore power transmission.

“Extreme weather also affects wind turbines, hydropower plants and photovoltaic power facilities,” said the director.

Other analysts also attributed the electricity shortage to cold weather.

“In very cold and wet weather, the blades of wind turbines can be frozen and stop working,” Sheng Honglei, an electricity industry insider based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.