Power Crunch in China

The State Electricity Dispatch Center predicted China will suffer its worst energy shortfall in 20 years this summer. Many cities have restricted power use by large consumers and ordered factories to stop work or introduce night shifts to cut electricity demand, Xinhua reported.

A spokesman with the Beijing municipal government told state-run media that workers from 962 Beijing-based industrial enterprises had started paid leave this week as the region enters the hottest time of the year.

Beijing Electric Power Corp says it has 58,817 industrial users in the Beijing municipality. The company says staggered shutdowns will ease power demand by 280,000 kilowatts. It also raised prices on July 1 in a bid to curb consumption.

Please note the recent news that Chinese oil demand is slowing. Also recall that China is planning to quadruple the amount of electricity that it generates via nuclear energy.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics

Comments

Stewart Peterson said…

Once again, no gas, no oil, no coal, no choice.

July 19, 2005 at 11:32 PM

Sneak Peek

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