Giving in to the Coal Addiction
June 15, 2011 No CommentsChina will accelerate the construction of coal-fired power stations to deliver electricity to areas short of power, and a group of the stations will be put into use this summer, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA). “The power stations that are under construction have a generating capacity of 180 million kilowatts (kW),” said Xu Yongsheng, director of the power industry department of the NEA. “The government will speed up the examination and approval of these projects and put them into use ahead of schedule.”Xu said the rapid growth of power demand is the main cause of the power shortage in the country. But the previous drought in South China, increased coal prices and reduced coal imports also contributed to the shortage, he added.
Many provinces, including Jiangsu and Zhejiang in southern China, have suffered from power shortages since early April, and many places experienced tight power supplies in the first five months of the year.
China Electricity Council statistics show the country’s total industrial power consumption was 1,090 billion kilowatt-hours in the first four months of the year, growth of 12 percent year-on-year.
The droughts this year in the southwest and northeast of the country have also impacted hydropower generation. Nationally, precipitation in April was 50 percent less than the average level of the past years, causing a 20 percent reduction of water-power production growth.
Source: China Daily
