China’s power crisis

The Straits Times reports that :

In the first half of this year alone, 24 out of the China’s 31 provinces and municipalities have suffered from blackouts because Chinese power companies just cannot generate enough electricity for all of the country’s factories and smelters.

This summer, China’s power companies are expected to fall short by 30 million kilowatts, more than half of which will be needed in Shanghai and the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

… as the frequency of power outages shows no sign of abating as the weather heats up, the local authorities have resorted to more drastic measures, including offering subsidies for factories to buy their own power generators and asking some companies to give their employees paid vacations this summer. All these measures helped prevent the 757,000 brownouts that plagued China in the first half of this year from being more than it was, said industry experts.

http://www.jroller.com/page/lowem/20040726#china_s_power_crisis