China's Power Grid At Capacity As Heatwave Roars On - Reuters

[hatrack]

BEIJING - "Searing temperatures across booming China have driven up energy demand, exposed an over-reliance on coal and are taking a toll on industry, Xinhua news agency said. Power shortages this summer should be "much more serious" than last year -- when China faced its worst energy crunch in two decades -- a source from the State Electricity Dispatching Centre were quoted as saying.

"Many experts attribute the power shortage to the skyrocketing economy, especially high-power-consuming industries," Xinhua said in an overnight report. China's unbalanced energy structure was also to blame, because excessive reliance on thermal power meant coal shortages could "immediately lead to a terrible power generation breakdown", Xinhua said.

EDIT

Temperatures were expected to stay above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) across most of China over the next few days, especially in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, which saw its hottest day in 70 years on Sunday when the mercury hit 39 C (102 F), Xinhua said. The heat had forced the suspension of construction projects in many cities and caused water shortages, fires and traffic accidents, it said.

EDIT

Power consumption in Shanghai had set three records in a week and the local grid was already stretched to capacity, Xinhua said. Premier Wen Jiabao has called on government officials to set an example by setting air-conditioners at 26 C or above and abandoning Western-style suits at meetings. Many cities have limited power use by big consumers and told factories to shut down or introduce night shifts to cut electricity demand."

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/31567/story.htm

[brokensymmetry]

1. Lots more coal fired electric plants, as I recall...

We haven't got a snowball's chance in Hell, have we?

[Massacure]

2. China has the capacity to burn more coal, but cannot transport it.

China has a serious lack of transportation infrastructure. China is working to correct that, but they are also rapidly designing new nuclear power plants.

[happyslug]

3. And do not forget the Three Gorges dam.

The 3 Gorges dam .... producing 18,000 megawatts, or the output equivalent to about 15 nuclear power plants!
http://www.wcsscience.com/giant/dam.html

http://www.american.edu/ted/THREEDAM.htm
http://www.chinapage.com/3gorge/3gorge.html
http://www.eca-watch.org/problems/china/racechina.html
http://www.nextcity.com/ProbeInternational/ThreeGorges/tgp/tgp7.htm
http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/3gorges.htm

[blindpig]

4. ....at too high a cost

as your Eca-watch link indicates, not even getting into the biodiversity cost. The dam dooms the Yangtze Dolphin, and quite possible the Chinese Alligator.

[NNadir]

5. Ick. What a disaster.