Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Coal supply endangered
China tries to avert energy crisis
The worries about the shaky real estate company Evergrande are just settling down a bit, so the next problem is facing China: There have been problems with the power supply for days. Analysts fear that economic growth in the People’s Republic could suffer. Beijing is now reacting.
Against the background of increasing blackouts and bottlenecks, China has asked its provincial governments to secure the supply of coal to power plants. The Beijing-based National Development and Reform Commission said it was keeping a close eye on coal consumption and the supply situation in the country. Local authorities have been asked to pay close attention to the supply and consumption of coal in power plants.
It must also be ensured that coal reaches the power plants in good time in the event of a shortage. “Every effort” should be made to secure the transport of coal for power generation and heating.
In the past few days there had been numerous reports of electricity bottlenecks at industrial companies in several provinces in China. Factories had to stop working. There were also power outages in private households. Reports of failed traffic lights and cell phone networks were shared on social networks. There were also pictures of shops that had set up candles for lighting.
Analysts warned that China’s economic growth could suffer a significant damper due to an impending energy crisis. Several factors have been cited as the cause of the power shortage. In order to achieve its climate goals, China has ordered to strictly reduce emissions. Local governments have therefore started to ration electricity. In addition, there are high prices for coal and an unusually high energy demand in industry, which has to process orders from all over the world due to the catch-up effects after the corona crisis, it said.
“China has plenty of resources to overcome the electricity crisis,” the party-affiliated newspaper “Global Times” tried to allay fears in an editorial: “It is not difficult for us to further increase electricity generation and expand this capacity.”