Tens of millions in China facing winter power blackouts

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Tens of millions across China are facing power shortages in below-freezing winter temperatures, as three provinces impose curbs on electricity use due to surging demand and a squeezed coal supply. Residents, factories and businesses in Hunan, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces have been ordered to ration electricity with some areas citing a shortfall in coal supplies, according to local media reports and government notices.

China’s rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic has been driven by energy intensive industries such as construction, heaping pressure on the power grid and coal supplies, said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Hunan faces a shortfall of 3-4 million kilowatts of electricity this winter, local officials admitted last week, as demand soars due to unusually cold weather that will hit as low as -10°C. Office workers in provincial capital Changsha complained on social media about being forced to climb dozens of flights of stairs and freezing indoor temperatures as a result of frequent power outages. “My office heating has already been stopped, and there were blackouts on Dec 1, 3 and 5. Temperatures will drop to -8°C around New Year’s Day, will I freeze to death in Hunan?” one Weibo user wrote last week.

Meanwhile in Zhejiang province, factories in the manufacturing hub of Yiwu have been told to stop operations and streetlights have been turned off at night as part of an emissions-saving drive by the local government, according to media reports and photos circulated on Weibo.

Source: Tens of millions in China facing winter power blackouts, rationing

This is cold frozen specter of what is to come as the world cozies up to Net Zero Carbon.

Of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with the Trump administration's feeble and inept retaliatory cyber-attacks on China's electricity-generating infrastructure.

Conspiracy theorist?  Moi?

Perish the thought!

I heard is from my wife's cousin's hairdresser's dog-groomer, who read it on a foreign-language website as a reprint of an obscure tweet commenting on an Alex Jones program that aired two years ago, thus proving the veracity of my post and validating claims therein!

The forgoing was a pre-emptive sarcastic strike against the actual conspiracy theorists posting on this website.

One of the interesting things about this story was the link to Australia.

China imposed trade bans against Australia after Canberra demanded an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus and criticised Beijing’s treatment of the people of Hong Kong.

The electricity crisis appears to have been prompted by a shortage of coal after Beijing banned imports from Australia in retaliation.

China relies far less on Australian coal, which accounted for about a quarter of its imports last year. This year, since Beijing sought to punish Canberra, the amount it imported fell to 1.8 million tonnes in November from 9.4 million tonnes in May.

Source: Mass blackouts after China cuts Australian coal imports

Do you recognize these?

Hmm, interesting, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-16/ ... l/12985956

Several major Chinese cities have reportedly gone dark as authorities limit power usage, citing a shortage of coal.

Analysts said prices of the commodity in the country have shot up due to the reported crunch and some tie the shortages and blackouts to the unofficial ban on Australian coal. Chinese authorities have not tied the blackouts to tensions with Australia or the coal restrictions. They instead attribute the restrictions on power use to exceptionally high demand and routine maintenance.

Analysts said prices of the commodity in the country have shot up due to the reported crunch. The reports also follow rising trade tensions between Beijing and Canberra, leading some analysts to tie the coal shortages and blackouts to the unofficial ban on Australian coal. Prices of coal in China have shot up as a result of the shortage and research firm Wood Mackenzie predicts they will remain high during the peak winter demand period. “China’s thermal coal market is in chaos, with prices rocketing after daily price index releases were suspended on 3 December,” research firm Wood Mackenzie said.

The report said power rationing “has already commenced” in Hunan and Zhejiang provinces due to the shortages, and there is “little scope” for increased production from Chinese producers. Concerns about the availability of electricity for ordinary Chinese spiked in December. A widely shared online article listed planned blackouts by the Shanghai State Grid for different parts of Shanghai on Dec. 22.

Source: Chinese cities go dark amid shortage of coal a key Australian export
CNBC article of 5 January 2021