The severest power crunch in the last five years in the southern region has hit Guangdong hard, with a coal shortage rendering about 6 percent of the power-generating capacity idle, said a grid executive yesterday.

Guizhou, Yunnan and Hainan provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have been equally hit.

Xiao Peng, deputy general manager of China Southern Power Grid, said the shortage is the result of a rise in coal prices and decrease of coal supply as many coal miners are heading home for the Spring Festival holidays.

Xiao said the "severe shortage" was also caused by the closure of small coal mines and coal-fired electricity generators, a major step by the central government to restructure the economy and reduce pollution.

"Multiple causes have led to the current situation," Xiao told China Daily on the sidelines of an energy and economic development forum in Beijing.

(China Daily January 17, 2008)