China Shuts More Coal Power Plants; Warns on Shortage

[phantom power]

BEIJING (Reuters) - China may suffer a power shortage this summer as crippling as four years ago, threatening to cut deeper into industrial operations and stoke another surge in oil imports in order to keep the lights on through the Olympics.

Although Beijing has forecast a modest national deficit of 10 gigawatts (GW) when demand peaks in summer -- just 1.4 percent of its installed capacity -- at least four provinces between them are forecasting more than twice that amount as the risks mount.

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSPEK3710520080708?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=reutersEdge&rpc=401

[NickB79]

1. Peak Coal?

:shrug:

[Zachstar]

2. No this is just what people have expected from China for years.

Such a polluted area NEVER ought to have gotten the games. And now to attempt to keep to their fabricated figures they are turning off crap left and right.

It wont last. I know people will start switching on again when they spend a few days without their factory running and whatever. Atleast the cameras there will have enough detail to see how nasty the air and pollution will be.

The Olympics are going to be an embarrassment for China.

[hogwyld]

4. I think China will exert extreme influence

on the media to portray the games as a shining example of their greatness. Remember, China has gobs and gobs of money to influence the media centers.

[robertpaulsen]

3. Great Energy Bulletin article on China.

China’s renewable energy plans: shaken, not stirred
by David DuByne

The May 12th earthquake in western China’s Sichuan Province will have effects reaching further outside China than Beijing is letting on. Sichuan Province holds the key to China’s hydroelectric power generation plans in its renewable power targets and the area is also a hub for worldwide outsourced wind turbine equipment. Both were badly damaged.

This infrastructure will take months or years to repair, but in the meantime Chinese media report that “The quake in dollar terms is minimal and it seems unlikely to set back China’s economic growth by very much.” I beg to differ.

This earthquake cracked dams and roads, but at the same time it cracked holes in the myth that an ever-expanding China can accommodate an infinite number of companies wanting to open facilities there. We have been hiding behind a wall of outsourcing dependence to solve our domestic pollution and economic problems and that great wall is about to collapse.

The hydroelectric crutch: The quake zone area generated 62 percent of Sichuan province’s total electricity production by way of hydroelectric dams, of which “396 dams were believed badly damaged and many of the power stations on the river systems were damaged and several major reservoirs are being drained to prevent their dams from failing. The seismic safety of these dams is a concern and it is expected that many of them will need repair and strengthening,” according to Ministry of Water Resources minister Chen Lei.

more...

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/45778