China's power supply continue to ease, regional shortages remain

China's power supply will continue to ease in 2006 but regional and interim power shortages still may occur, Wang Yonggan, secretary-general of China Electricity Council (CEC), said Saturday.

The country has been battling acute energy shortage as its economy roars ahead at a breakneck speed, seeing growth last year of 9.9 percent.

The construction of large-scale power plants and an eased coal supply will alleviate China's power shortage. However, power consumption by individuals as well as industry will still require power to speed up, Wang told a forum.

China's power consumption will hit 2,750 gigawatt hours in 2006, up 12 percent year on year. Consumption by the steel industry will go up 11.4 percent, non-ferrous metal 14.8 percent, non-metallic industries some 13.8 percent and chemical industry about 9.4 percent, the CEC predicted.

Generators put into production in 2006 have an installation capability of 75 million kilowatts, the biggest upsurge in history, Wang said.

Since most generators will be installed after June, the problem lies in how to coordinate the projects so as to tackle summer power consumption hike, he said.

This year's biggest power shortage of about 8 million to 10 million kilowatts will come in the first quarter, mainly in China-South and central China due to the low flow period, the CEC predicted.

The country will also lack five to seven million kilowatts of electricity in the summer time, mainly in east and north China, it said.

Source: Xinhua