China’s power crisis prompts warning from rust-belt despite efforts to boost coal supply, manage electricity
- Liaoning has the biggest economy and consumes the most power of the three provinces making up China’s rust-belt industrial region
- It has been suffering widespread power cuts since mid-September and it issued its second-highest level power shortage alert on Monday
China’s largest provincial economy in its northeast rust belt warned of worsening power shortages on Monday, despite government efforts to boost coal supply and manage electricity use in a post-pandemic energy crisis hitting multiple countries.
China’s Liaoning province issued its second-highest level power shortage alert on Monday, the fifth in two weeks, warning the shortfall could reach nearly 5 gigawatts (GW).
A level-two alert indicates a power shortage equivalent to 10-20 per cent of total demand for power.
The rebound in global economic activity as coronavirus restrictions are lifted has exposed shortages of fuels used for power generation in China and other countries, leaving industries and governments scrambling as the northern hemisphere heads into winter.
“The biggest power shortage could reach 4.74 gigawatts on October 11,” a notice issued by the Liaoning Provincial Industry and Informatisation Department said.