Southeast Asia’s severe heatwave is pushing temperatures and power demand to new records, straining grids and prompting traders in the region to bulk up on natural gas cargoes.
More than three dozen districts across Thailand’s 77 provinces have seen record temperatures last month, generally the hottest month of the year, with new highs beating records held as far back as 1958, data from the Thai Meteorological Department showed.
In the Philippines, temperatures reached a record of 38.8oC in the capital, Manila, on Saturday and have since been even higher in other areas of the main Luzon island, national weather forecaster PAGASA said. New warnings were issued yesterday over potential disruption to electricity supplies amid extra demand.
Photo: Reuters
“Our consumption has suddenly increased because it’s very hot,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told reporters on Monday, saying the cooling demand is overloading power systems.
Thailand’s power usage surged to another record of 36,699 megawatts on Monday amid soaring temperatures, data on the state energy regulator’s Web site showed. That was the third time demand hit a new peak in about a week.
State-owned energy company PTT purchased a prompt delivery shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help feed the surging power demand, traders with knowledge of the matter said. PTT is considering buying more LNG, which is used primarily for power generation, the traders said.
PetroVietnam Gas is also looking to procure an LNG shipment late next month to avoid a shortfall, traders said.
In Myanmar, the region’s poorest economy, outages have already worsened in cities including Yangon, with many townships only seeing a few hours of electricity in recent days.
The Thai Meteorological Department advised people to avoid lengthy outdoor activities with maximum temperatures in most regions expected to top 40oC yesterday. The health ministry last week said that heat-related deaths had risen to about 30 nationwide this year.
The northern province of Lampang has seen the highest temperature so far this year at 44.2oC, just shy of the highest temperature ever recorded in Thailand — 44.6oC — last seen in 2016 and last year.
The office of the nation’s Islam spiritual leader prompted followers to pray for rain this weekend, local media reported. Wat Pho, one of the most well-known Buddhist temples, started sprinkling water on its compound to give tourists relief from the weather.
The Philippines’ heat index, which takes into account humidity and measures the temperature felt by individuals, hit a high of 53oC on Sunday, the weather forecaster said, indicating incidents of heat strokes were imminent.
China’s military yesterday showed off its machine-gun equipped robot battle “dogs” at the start of its biggest ever drills with Cambodian forces. More than 2,000 troops, including 760 Chinese military personnel, are taking part in the drills at a remote training center in central Kampong Chhnang Province and at sea off Preah Sihanouk Province. The 15-day exercise, dubbed Golden Dragon, also involves 14 warships — three from China — two helicopters and 69 armored vehicles and tanks, and includes live-fire, anti-terrorism and humanitarian rescue drills. The hardware on show included the so-called “robodogs” — remote-controlled four-legged robots with automatic rifles mounted on their
A Philippine boat convoy bearing supplies for Filipino fishers yesterday said that it was headed back to port, ditching plans to sail to a reef off the Southeast Asian country after one of their boats was “constantly shadowed” by a Chinese vessel. The Atin Ito (“This Is Ours”) coalition convoy on Wednesday set sail to distribute fuel and food to fishers and assert Philippine rights in the disputed South China Sea. “They will now proceed to the Subic fish port to mark the end of their successful mission,” the group said in a statement. A Philippine Coast Guard vessel escorting the convoy was
STREET WATCH: Residents watched over barricades blocking roads and flew white flags to show that they intended to keep an eye on their neighborhoods France yesterday deployed troops to New Caledonia’s ports and international airport, banned TikTok and imposed a state of emergency after three nights of clashes that have left four dead and hundreds wounded. Pro-independence, largely indigenous protests against a French plan to impose new voting rules on its Pacific archipelago have spiraled into the deadliest violence since the 1980s, with a police officer among several killed by gunfire. On roads, the torched detritus amassed over four days of unrest was scattered amid fist-size hunks of rock and cement that appeared to have been flung during riots. Armored vehicles roved the city’s palm-lined boulevards, usually
The last piece of privately owned land in the strategic Svalbard archipelago in the arctic is up for grabs, a property likely to entice China, but which Norway does not intend to let go without a fight. The archipelago is located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, in an arctic region that has become a geopolitical and economic hotspot, as the ice melts and relations grow ever frostier between Russia and the West. For 300 million euros (US$326 million), interested parties can acquire the remote Sore Fagerfjord property in southwestern Svalbard. Measuring 60km2 — about the size of Manhattan — the