China faces growing power woes
More than half the country has been hit by blackouts as the hot summer and industrial needs put a strain on resources
By Goh Sui Noi
BEIJING - The searing heat of the exceptionally hot summer has kept air-conditioners humming at full blast - and highlighted China's growing power crunch.
Since last month, there have been constant blackouts in 16 provinces, or half the country, as overstretched power providers shut down supply periodically to avoid overloading the power grids.
By early this month, 19 provinces were facing power shortages, with rapidly developing eastern and southern China, including the Yangtze River Delta, among the most severely affected.
In Shanghai, which is facing its hottest summer in 70 years, with temperatures close to 40 deg C, power rationing has started, and residents have been asked to save electricity by turning their air-conditioners up one degree.
The night scene at the Bund is less pretty these days, with landscape lighting switched off. But more ominously for Shanghai's economy, more than 1,000 companies have been asked to restrict use of electricity.
More severe measures, including stopping production in non-key industries, are expected to kick in if the situation does not improve.
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