Long plagued by tight coal supplies, China's power producers have so far not suffered shortages this summer, benefiting from enhanced transport capabilities and efforts to secure new coal sources.

Statistics indicate the country's coal stockpiles set aside for generating power were at a record 19.66 million tons by June 21, almost double the figure on the same day of last year.

The increased supply can sustain 15 days of full-operation power generation, compared with just five days last year.

China's electricity consumption this year will rise 12 percent year-on-year to as much as 2.4 trillion kilowatt-hours, Shi Yubo, vice-chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said in May.

Industry analysts and company officials attributed the eased coal supply to expanded rail transport capacity, governmental macro-controls over the highly coal-dependent sectors and power producer's intensified efforts to lock in coal sources.

The country's two major coal transportation railways, the Datong-Qinhuangdao and Houma-Yueshan lines, will expand in capacity by 100 million tons within the year, to transport more coal from the resource-abundant Shanxi Province to fast-developing power-guzzling coastal economies.

"The increased rail transport ability will greatly help ease the tight coal supply that has long bottlenecked the power industry in China," Zheng Yong, secretary-general of the Jiangsu-based East China Coal Sales Union, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

On the demand side, China's tightened controls over the high energy-consuming sectors have already shown an effect, lowering electricity use.

The increased rate of cement production, for instance, slumped 15.1 percent in the first five months year-on-year, industry statistics showed.

Besides, the increasing amount of rainfall this year and the operation of the West-East Gas Pipeline project have also generated more power through the country's hydro resources as well as through gas-fired plants, thus mitigating pressure on coal-fuelled power plants.

Official statistics indicate, the country's coal-fired power output increased by 12.2 percent from January to May year-on-year, a drop of 4.4 percent in the growth rate for the period.

"In addition, drawing upon the lessons from the unstable coal supplies in previous years, the nation's power generators have also multiplied efforts in finding new sources of coal supplies," said Gao Shixian, a senior analyst with the energy research institute under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Guo Xinhua, a department director from one of China's largest power producers Huaneng group, told China Daily the company has just signed three long-term coal supply contracts with local coal producers in Shanxi and Anhui provinces after locking in similar supplies from Shenhua and China Coal.

The power group has also recently received NDRC'a approval to develop a coal mine near its Yimin power plant in Inner Mongolia, and the infrastructure will soon begin construction, Zhang Weiran, an office manager with Bucyrus International Inc China told China Daily in a recent energy forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce China.

Guo from Huaneng said the coal storage in his company is sufficient to fuel seven days of power generating, a "much better" situation over previous years.

(China Daily July 8, 2005)