China's largest city is bracing for more power shortages during the sultry summer months, state media reported yesterday amid official forecasts of price hikes for electricity, coal and oil.
Shanghai's sticky summer weather, with temperatures peaking around 40?C, is likely to aggravate chronic shortages of electricity as homes, offices and factories crank up air conditioning, state-run media cited city officials as saying.
The daily shortfall during peak demand periods could reach 4 million kilowatts, the state-run newspaper Shanghai Daily reported. It cited officials at the Shanghai Price Bureau, which sets electricity rates.
Double-digit economic growth for this city of 20 million people has outpaced increases in power supply. Even under normal conditions, the city needs 2 million kilowatts more electricity at peak demand times than the 9.6 million kilowatts it can provide.
Local officials are drawing up plans to cope with summer surges in demand, the reports said.
Occasional brownouts last summer prompted the government to order some factories to stagger their production hours or suspend output to help reduce demand. The city has been closing down power-guzzling small metal workshops and encouraging shopping malls to keep heat and air conditioning at moderate levels.
To further encourage factories to switch to nighttime production, the price bureau said it would boost daytime electricity rates for industrial use. It did not give specific figures.
Shanghai has been buying electricity from other areas, including the Three Gorges hydroelectric project some 1,000km upstream on the Yangtze river, but supplies are scarce nationwide.
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