According to China Electricity Council Central and southeastern parts of China may be short of power during peak hours in this summer, due to tight supply, price hikes of thermal coal and drought in hydropower generating region.
The CEC said in its quarterly analysis report China electricity consumption jumped 24.19%YoY to 969.5 billion kWh during the January to March period of 2010 boosted by macro economic recovery.
Ms Xue Jing director of CEC Statistics Department said "What we are facing this summer is a situation far from satisfactory. She said the electricity volume generated by hydropower plants might be affected by the current drought that strike southwestern China while a 15% price hikes of thermal coal would add to the tension between coal producer and thermal power plants. Limited railway transport capacity will also impair the supply of thermal coal to central and southwestern China.”
She added that the CEC estimated the country electricity consumption growth will slow down in the coming months due to the varying bases of last year. The base was relatively low in the first three months in 2009 but rose steadily during the rest of last year. China electricity consumption is estimated to rise by 9%YoY to 3.97 trillion kWh in 2010.