Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business.

Greater China

Mar 30, 2005

Electricity supply to remain tight in 2005

BEIJING - Due to various factors, China will still face a tight supply of electric power this year, forcing some areas to practice blackout policy in order to save energy, said Chai Songyue, chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

According to a preliminary analysis, China's consumption of electric power is forecast to increase 12% this year, and the total consumption of power will reach 2,422 billion kWh, posing a shortage of 20-25 billion kW.

The tight supply of electric power will create new safety concerns. Power shortages in the last two years have overloaded some power grids, which has reduced the safety margins of the equipment. Statistics show that the average utilization of power generating equipment was 5,460 hours in 2004 (out of 8,760 hours in the year). The utilization was even higher for thermal power generating equipment, at 5,988 hours, an increase of 221 hours over the previous year.

For a long time, China's power transforming and generating equipment has been overloaded, leaving insufficient time for required maintenance and repair work. This situation has added to concerns about the safety of the equipment.

(Asia Pulse/XIC)

Head Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong Kong
Thailand Bureau: 11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110

Asian Sex Gazette China Sex News