Shanghai is facing power blackouts this summer. Some parts of
the city have an underdeveloped power-distribution network and grid
operators may be forced to pull the plug on electricity supplies if
an overload occurs.
The intentional cut-off, which is rare in the city even during
the power shortages of the past few years, was tried out this week
when a major transformer in Pudong was overloaded by a sudden
increased demand.
"Such measures will be inevitable this summer, or we will have
an even bigger problem," said Li Xinzhang, a spokesman for the
Shidong Power Supply Co, which is in charge of areas east of the
Huangpu River. The company turned off supply to more than 1,000
families and businesses in Pudong's Beicai, Yuqiao and Liuli areas
on Wednesday without giving any notice in advance as "they had no
time."
Damage to households, such as home-appliance breakdowns, and
factories, is still unknown, although Li said they haven't received
any complaints.
These areas, according to Li, are suffering "a
power-distribution bottleneck," which means there's not enough
transmission capacity for them to arrange additional supplies.
Bottlenecks also exist elsewhere in the city, such as the Chunshen
area of Minhang District, an industrial park zone, according to
Zhou Leiyong of the Shinan Power Supply Co.
One thing in common between these places is that demand has
soared over the past few years due to rapid economic development
and massive use of air-conditioners and heaters, while the
electricity infrastructure lags behind, said Li Rongmin, a director
of the Shanghai Power Grid Load Management Center.
"We have worked hard to achieve a basic balance of supply and
demand this year, and now the power-distribution problem has made
things even worse," he said.
All the experts agree that the root cause is the difficulty to
get land to install equipment in a city that is so densely
populated.
Their projects sometimes require relocation of homes and
businesses, which needs coordination of district governments.
Then there can be protests about radiation from the transformers
and power lines, which apartment owners or real estate developers
are worried will devalue their property.
Shanghai has budgeted 20 billion yuan (US$2.56 billion) in grid
construction and upgrades this year, with the major goal to prevent
a massive blackout as the city's electricity demand is forecast to
increase 10 percent from last year to 21 million kilowatts in peak
times.
However, of the 17 projects scheduled to be finished before
summer this year, only 11 have been completed.
(Shanghai Daily June 1, 2007)