China Braces for More Summer Power Shortages as Demand Rises

China expects a recurrence of power shortages in some provinces during times of peak demand this summer as electricity use rises.

(Bloomberg) — China expects a recurrence of power shortages in some provinces during times of peak demand this summer as electricity use rises.

The nation’s maximum power load will likely reach 1,360 gigawatts this summer, creating shortages in some areas, National Energy Administration spokesman Liang Changxin said at a briefing on Wednesday. Last year, the peak load surged by nearly 20% to a record 1,290 gigawatts after a heat wave drove increased air conditioning use while drying up hydropower reservoirs, causing widespread power curtailments to factories in the southwest.

It was just the latest of a series of economy-sapping electricity outages, and Beijing has responded by pushing for a massive build-out of new coal-fired power plants. At the same time, the country is accelerating its ramp up of renewable power. In a separate statement, the NEA said it expects installations to hit a record 160 gigawatts of wind and solar generation this year.

The investments underscore the importance to China of maintaining secure and reliable energy supplies to fuel its so-far sputtering economic rebound from the pandemic. Still, the combined build-outs threaten to leave China with an expensive fleet of underutilized coal plants that sit idle most of the time except for a handful of hours during the year when everyone needs power all at once.

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