News reports blame high coal prices, they say, that power companies are reluctant to meet rising demand, while economists say the real motive is political: the use of energy on officials to meet official targets. pressure to reduce.
In the northeast’s most populous city, Shenyang, restaurant owner Li Yufeng used a battery from an electric bicycle to power a pot for noodles, after noticing that the power would turn off at 7:30 a.m. Li said. He started work two hours earlier, at 6 in the morning. For preparing chicken, sauces and other dishes.
“There are some effects, but not a big one,” Lee said as customers ate under the light of smartphones.
Factories in China’s busiest manufacturing provinces have been ordered to suspend production for a week, which could disrupt global supplies of smartphones and other goods. Now, with urban neighborhoods being blacked out, pleas are being made on social media for the government to solve the problem.
China’s electricity consumption is growing at nearly twice its normal rate, while the ruling communist party Attempting to reduce energy intensity, or the amount used per unit of economic output.
The power cut comes as global leaders prepare to attend a UN environment conference by video link on October 12-13 in the southwestern city of Kunming. This increases the pressure on the President Xi Jinpingof the government, as the host of the meeting, to show that it is sticking to emissions and energy efficiency targets.
The cuts are “largely driven by energy consumption control measures, with power shortages affecting some other provinces,” lara dongo IHS Markit said in an email.
“This is in line with China’s decarbonization ambitions,” she said.
NS cabinetThe planning agency warned in August that 20 regions had exceeded energy use and pollution targets after the pandemic had recovered. The government has ambitious plans to make the economy cleaner and more energy-efficient, so failing to meet those goals could result in career endings.
Bank of America said in a report that power cuts “could be more disruptive than previous reductions.” As for shortages in some areas, it said, “the easing of the government’s energy consumption targets may not immediately reduce power shortages.”
China is the world’s largest emitter of climate-changing industrial gases and consumes more energy per unit of economic output than developed countries. In view of its huge population, it ranks very low on per capita basis.
China is also preparing winter Olympics February in the capital, Beijing, and the nearby city of Shijiazhuang, a period when it would like clear blue skies.
Officials in Jiangsu province, a manufacturing hub northwest of Shanghai, told state media that some cities there have used 90% of this year’s quota for electricity use. Officials from the provincial planning agency were quoted as saying that individual city governments had to decide how best to meet their goals.
The government of Guangdong province, China’s largest manufacturing hub, has cited both official energy use limits and low water levels in the hydroelectric reservoirs that provide a large portion of its electricity.
In Liaoning province, where Shenyang is the capital, the government said in a statement on Sunday that electricity demand reached a record high in the first eight months of the year. It said Liaoning has faced shortages since then due to a decline in wind power and other sources.
The government of neighboring Jilin province blamed the shortage on coal. It said in a statement on Monday that its governor would visit miners in nearby Inner Mongolia for additional supplies.
Some advance warnings of power cuts to residents of Shenyang and other cities cited the need to ration electricity, but did not explain why.
The noodle restaurant owner, Lee, showed a reporter a notice circulated on social media saying that the electricity would be off in his neighborhood from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
shopkeeper yang chang A generator was running on the sidewalk to keep the freezer full of meat cold.
“As long as there’s electricity, we can sell things unlike restaurants that need water,” Yang said. yang Didn’t know or care what caused the power outage, but said, “It makes sense.”
“I was born in the ’90s. When I was young, the power was not constant,” Yang said. “Though we are facing difficulties, the government will find a solution.”
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