Fear of more blackouts: Li Keqiang orders increase in coal use for power generation

Heat waves in the country's central and northern provinces have pushed electricity consumption to record levels. Efforts to combat climate change shelved. Leadership wants to avoid further damage to the economy. Floods in the south also threaten growth targets.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - The country must increase coal production to prevent blackouts in any way. That's the instruction given yesterday by Li Keqiang during a visit to a thermal power plant in Zhuozhou (Hebei). The Chinese premier's fears is that there will be a repeat of last fall's power outages: they had affected 16 out of 31 provinces, causing severe damage to the national economy.

Li stressed that power consumption in China is at an all-time high. His stated goal is to avoid electricity rationing. In addition to "efficient and clean" coal-fired power generation, he expects an acceleration in the construction of new hydropower plants.

A heat wave has pushed electricity demand to record levels in the central and northern provinces. Shandong, Henan and Hebei are experiencing temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius these days, and millions of local residents are forced to resort to air conditioners to find coolness.

As Reuters reports, in Shandong at its peak, the power grid posted a load of 92.94 million kilowatts yesterday, surpassing the 2020 record of 90.22 million.  With more than 100 million people, Shandong is the country's most populous province after Guangdong. Electricity consumption records have also occurred in Henan.

According to several observers, Li has taken a more proactive role in recent times in an attempt to revive the national economy, which has been held back by the resurgence of Covid-19 contagions and a series of "centralist" reforms sought by President Xi Jinping. A new energy crisis would dash any hopes of meeting the 2022 growth target of 5.5 percent. To do so, the Chinese government appears ready to shelve efforts against climate change, as shown by orders to increase electricity production from coal-fired power plants.

For its economic goals, the Chinese leadership faces not only the climate threat of scorching heat, but at the opposite end of the spectrum, flooding in the south of the country, which is devastating seven provinces.

Already May has been a difficult month for the Chinese economy, acording to data reported by Bloomberg from Beijing and Shanghai, both grappling with the pandemic emergency. In the capital, consumption fell 26 percent from a year earlier; in Shanghai, the country's economic and financial hub, the decline was even more pronounced (-37 percent). Industrial output in Beijing fell by 40 percent in one year, and in Shanghai by 28 percent.

(Xinhua photo)