“This summer, most regions in China are able to meet their electricity demand, and the large-scale blackouts will not occur, said Zhao Xizheng, vice-manager of the State Power Corporation, China’s largest power producer.

Zhao warned that electricity supply could be restricted in regions such as South China’s Guangdong Province, East China’s Zhejiang Province and North China’s Hebei Province.

The situation was expected to be better than last year, however, when Sichuan, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces all experienced lengthy blackouts.

But he said regions such as Fujian, Shandong and Guizhou provinces should have enough electricity while Hainan and Sichuan provinces and some provinces in Northeast and Central China could even see substantial electricity surplus.

In Northeast China, for instance, the total installation capacities of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces now exceed 50 million kilowatts, leaving 2-3 million kilowatts redundant.

But this has failed to stop rumors that last year’s blackouts in some areas will happen again this summer as electricity consumption rises with the nation’s rapid and steady economic development.

In the January-May period, China used electricity of 556.7 billion kilowatt hours, up 7.9 percent year-on-year. Power consumption in economic developed provinces of Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangsu increased by more than 10 percent during the period.

Consumption is believed to reach its peak this summer, when more air conditioners and pumps will be needed to relieve heat and potential flooding.

Zhao said the government has taken measures to guarantee electricity supply for the summer, such as transmitting electricity from power-rich places to power-starved regions.

Beijing is expected to use about 1 million kilowatts of electricity generated in Shanxi Province, 1.2 million kilowatts from Inner Mongolia and up to 1.2 million kilowatts from power grids in Northeast China.

In Guangdong Province, generators producing an additional 1.2 million kilowatts of electricity will be put into operation by the end of the month. It will also use about 2.6 million kilowatts from Guizhou Province by the end of the month. To meet consumption demand, the province still has to buy 1.2 million kilowatts of electricity from Hong Kong.

But Zhao said some places with insufficient generators were still likely to have a risk of short supply because their power grids have not been connected with others for electricity exchanges.

The most serious power shortage is expected to occur in Hebei Province, he said.

Blackouts will be unavoidable if widespread droughts take place within the next few months, Zhao added.

(China Daily 06/20/2001)