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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (500)	8/24/2003 3:25:30 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

China mulls market strategies for power shortages -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- China cannot escape from power shortages this year, and the electricity tension will still be tough in the next two or three years, revealed Chinese experts, who have been reflecting upon China's extensive power crisis this summer. The State Power Grid Corporation predicted that the country's total electricity consumption would reach 1.84 trillion kilowatt hours this year, 12.3 percent more than in 2002. This implies a domestic power deficiency up to 10 million kilowatt hours this year even taking into account the generating capacities of power projects currently under construction. Since the end of June, blackouts were imposed in 19 provinces and municipalities, including the prosperous Yangtze River Delta, to lighten the pressure on the overloaded power grids. Although scorching weather has been widely blamed the sharp rise in electricity consumption, the limping construction of electricity facilities, which lags far behind the pace of the country's economic development, is believed to be the essential cause of the recent energy shortages, said Xu Keda, a State Council official in charge of equipment for the Three Gorges Project. China's policy-makers are pondering responsive market strategies, hoping to accelerate electricity facility constructionand balance power supply and demand by "breaking monopoly and introducing competition." Following the splitting up of the State Power Corporation at the end of last year, China is planning to create six regional competitive power markets in three years in a determined move to break up the traditional province-based electricity monopolies. Meanwhile, experts consider that investment reform is also a key to tackling the power shortage problem. Complicated examination and approval procedures have delayed investment, whichwould otherwise contribute to more constructions of power supply facilities. Fortunately, open market strategies have been gradually introduced into the investment mechanism. In recent years, China'sprivate enterprises have invested heavily in hydropower stations, once a forbidden zone for non-governmental english.eastday.com