Blackouts in China as heatwave pushes electricity usage to record levels

theguardian.com:

A long-running heatwave in China has pushed electricity usage to record levels in some areas and led to blackouts, with warnings that the high temperatures are expected to continue for at least another week.

More than 300 cities were forecast to reach temperatures above 35C on Tuesday. China Southern Power Grid Company said Monday’s usage had surpassed last year’s peak load by 3%. The Guangdong province power grid also hit a record high, reaching 142m kilowatts, an increase of 4.89% over last year’s peak load. Blackouts were reported in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, which has recorded a full week of maximum temperatures above 37C, including highs of 40C on Sunday and Monday.

Yang Lin, the manager of the company’s dispatching office, said once temperatures in Guangzhou surpassed 35C, every extra degree meant a corresponding load increase of 3m-5m kilowatts.

The company said it was inspecting equipment to avoid overheating and malfunction, and pledged to maintain power supply. In recent years there have been widespread blackouts that have caused havoc across China – blamed on extreme temperatures, rising demand for electricity and shortages in coal, which is still the main source of China’s power.

China is among several countries to have moved back towards a coal-focused energy supply, despite ambitious emissions reduction pledges, amid a global crisis exacerbated by the Ukraine conflict. On Friday the ministry of emergency management warned safe operation of the power grid faced “severe tests”.

Last week China’s electricity council reported national power consumption had increased 2.9% year-on-year in the first half of 2022. In June there was a year-on-year increase of 4.7%, which the council attributed to an easing of