China’s Power Crisis Deepens as Coal Supply Dwindles

(Bloomberg) — China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, is facing a deepening summer power crisis that may persist into the winter months, the nation’s dominant electricity distributor said.

State Grid Corp. of China, which more than 1 billion people rely on for power, said electricity shortages have worsened because of inadequate coal supplies. Forty-six percent of the power stations connected to the distributor’s grid have coal stockpiles below the “caution line,” or seven days of consumption, data from the company showed today.


China, facing its sixth year of electricity shortages, mothballed at least 2.9 percent of its coal-fired generating capacity as of July 25 as fuel supplies dwindled, State Grid said. Coal shortfalls may worsen in winter as power demand stays high and hydropower output falls to a seasonal low, it said.

“We will monitor coal supplies on a daily basis and make coordinated arrangements with local governments to address the shortages,” the power distributor said in a statement today.

State Grid’s coal inventories dropped to 31.55 million metric tons as of yesterday from 34.64 million tons three weeks ago, the company said. China’s closure of small mines to cut pollution before the Beijing Olympics next month also tightened supply of the fuel.

Bloomberg