CHINA has shut down more than six percent of the power generating capacity in its southern regions because of a coal shortage, with the region bracing for the worst electricity shortage in at least five years.
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has shut 2.3 gigawatts, Guizhou Province 4.2 gigawatts and Yunnan Province 3.8 gigawatts, Xiao Peng, vice president of China Southern Power Grid Co, said in Beijing yesterday. China's southern regions have 164 gigawatts of combined capacity, he said.
"The problem is serious," Xiao said. "We have sent an urgent request to the central government to address the issue," he said at the China 2008 Economic & Energy Outlook conference, according to Bloomberg News.
China burns coal to generate about 78 percent of its electricity. The nation became a net importer of coal for the first time in January last year and consumption has outpaced gains in output from Australia and Indonesia. Rising coal prices and domestic transport bottlenecks have contributed to a lack of the fuel, Xiao said.
"This is kind of an every-year event due to bad weather, winter heating demand and low output," said Donovan Huang, a coal analyst at Nomura Securities Ltd. "The Chinese New Year is approaching and a lot of the mines have started to shut down as the miners return home."
China increased coal imports by 34 percent last year to 51 million metric tons as the fastest growth pace of any major economy drove up demand, the Beijing-based Customs General Administration of China said yesterday.
The closure of 10.3 gigawatts of power capacity in the three regions is contributing to the worst power shortage in the area since the distributor was set up, Xiao said.