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)
