Blackouts and brownouts will return to parts of China over the
next two years as the nation continues to grapple with power
shortages.
State Development and Reform Commission Vice Minister Zhang
Guobao said the country is implementing various measures to ease
the crunch, while calling on private and foreign investors to put
their money into power generation projects.
Overseas investment in the sector has been welcome since the
beginning of the nation’s reform and opening program, while
increasing numbers of domestic private enterprises have moved into
the power industry.
China’s demand for power has soared since June 2002 and led to
limits on electricity use in some places.
“By the end of last year, 21 provincial areas faced power
shortages,” Zhang said.
Zhang Guobao attributed the shortages to fast economic
development, elevation of living standards and boom times for
energy-consuming industries. The restructuring of rural and urban
grids and climate factors are also playing a part.
But commission spokesman Cao Yushu said recently that shortages
are likely to ease this year as the government busily puts up
plants across the nation.
Dozens of new generators with combined capacity of up to 37
million kilowatts will be going on line by the end of this year, he
said.
But the National Federation of Electricity Enterprises (NFEE)
agreed with the Zhang’s view. It said new capacity this year will
total only 35 million kilowatts, below Cao’s prediction of 37
million.
Zhang confirmed that the government has taken such steps as
constructing more power plants to deal with the problem, as well as
redistributing power supplies between regions and adjusting
consumption through price controls.
In the first two months of this year, China’s electricity
generation jumped 22 percent year-on-year to 385 million kilowatts,
with projects under way to produce 130 million kilowatts.
Meanwhile, the electricity demand will leap to 2.1 trillion
kilowatt-hours, up 12 percent from 2003’s 1.9 trillion
kilowatt-hours.
“The shortage is likely to be reduced in 2005,” the NFEE said in
a recent report.
Zhang Guobao called for greater efforts to improve power
production and distribution so as to meet demand.
By the end of 2003, the government had already approved plans
for 26 soon-to-be constructed power generators with maximum
capacity of 11.4 million kilowatts. A total of 92 projects, with
total capacity of 83.9 million kilowatts, are outlined in a
feasibility study.
Experts say the power shortage will force systemic reforms. They
refer to conflicts between power plants and grid companies, as well
as between coal producers and power plants.
Zhang Jianyu, a visiting scholar with Tsinghua University,
pointed out that coal prices float according to market demand, but
the government continues to control electricity pricing.
Last year, the surging coal price and fixed electricity price
resulted in huge losses for many power plants. To resolve the
problem, the government increased the price of thermal power at the
beginning of 2004.
“Constructing more power generators does not solve all the
problems,” said Zhang.
He said the government should have integrated solutions for
price reforms.
“Otherwise, I’m afraid that power plants will not be able to
operate because of coal supply shortages caused by higher
prices.
(China Daily April 2, 2004)