China’s searing heat wave strains power grid as demand for air conditioning soars past last year’s record
- Soaring demand lifted power generation to a record 223 gigawatts (GW) on Monday, 3 per cent higher than last year’s peak load, China Southern Power said
- Every additional degree of heat requires as much as 5GW of extra capacity, said Yang Lin, an official at China Southern Power
The searing heat that has gripped China for over a month has boosted power generation to a record high in southern regions, leading to outages in some places as demand for air-conditioning strains the network.
China Southern Power Grid, the country’s second-largest operator supplying five provinces, said soaring demand lifted power generation to a record 223 gigawatts (GW) on Monday, 3 per cent higher than last year’s peak load, according to a posting on WeChat.
In the economic powerhouse of Guangdong province, supply surged 4.9 per cent to an all-time high of 142GW. The company said its drones had detected malfunctions in the connections supplying the city of Guangzhou, causing blackouts in some districts.
Southern China is expected to see persistent heat over the next 10 days, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) or more in some parts, according to the National Meteorological Center.
Every additional degree of heat requires as much as 5GW of extra capacity, said Yang Lin, an official at China Southern Power. Southern regions have seen demand of over 200GW for nearly a fortnight, he said.