Some industries in Shanghai, the country's financial hub, have
been forced to shift their hours of operation to reduce power
consumption during peak times.
About 700 local enterprises have been affected in this latest in
a string of moves the city has taken to ensure the local power
supply this summer. Another heat wave started last weekend.
The 700 affected enterprises, all big energy consumers, were
asked to shift operations temporarily to the graveyard shift,
midnight to 8:00 AM.
The period the policy is to stay in effect is unknown, officials
said.
Home to more than 16 million people, Shanghai reported on Sunday
the hottest day of the summer as the temperature hit more than 37
degrees Celsius.
The city is facing a power supply gap of 2.0 million to 2.6
million kilowatts this summer, said Zhang Hongtao, publicity
official of the Shanghai Municipal Economic Commission (SMEC).
Earlier, another 500 local enterprises were asked to make
similar adjustments to their operating hours.
The involved enterprises are small ones operating in
energy-consuming sectors such as steel refining, cement or iron
alloy manufacturing. Officials said changes to production times
would not affect the city's overall economic performance.
The time shift will cut up to 500,000 kilowatts from power
demand, said He Changqun, SMEC's power department director.
"We have had good contact with the enterprises. . . . the key
issue now is to what extent they will carry out the move," said
He.
Although he declined to reveal further specifics about the
enterprises, He said foreign-invested businesses on the whole are
not included because their operations and advanced technologies are
more energy efficient. There are, however, a few exceptions.
Meanwhile, other enterprises are expected to halt production on
a weekly basis, while work at a number of local construction sites
in non-essential industrial or infrastructure projects is supposed
to stop whenever the temperature exceeds 35 degrees Celsius.
The city also plans to adopt variable-rate electricity charges.
Local government offices and large retail facilities are expected
to keep air conditioners no lower than 26 degrees Celsius to save
power. Many local decorative lamps will be shut off during peak-use
periods.
"We are basically ready for the power demand this summer, but we
are afraid that the number of high-temperature days may exceed
forecasts," said Zhang.
The State Power Grid Company has said that the entire country
may be facing its most severe power shortage since the 1980s, with
a gap of 30 million kilowatts between electricity demand and supply
this summer. Twenty-four provincial areas have imposed power
brownouts in the past few months.
On July 6, some 6,000 companies in Beijing shifted their
operating hours away from peak-use periods.
(China Daily July 13, 2004)