Southwestern China's Sichuan province is facing a lack of coal stockpiles this summer, which may result in power shortage if high temperatures affect large parts of the province for prolonged periods, the local power grid operator said on June 21.
It is forecast that the peak load in Sichuan will break 52.5 GW this summer, State Grid Sichuan Electric Power Co., Ltd. said. If high temperatures continue for a long time, cities like Chengdu are likely to be subject to power shortage.
Since May, Sichuan's power demand has increased sharply, with both the highest peak load and daily peak power consumption exceeding levels in the same period last year. Its power consumption increased 16% from a year ago so far in June.
The hydro-rich province is typically not a key producer of coal. Most of coal burned for power genertion depends on inbound delivery from other provinces. "If the heatwave continues, only hydropower generation is not enough to cover Sichuan's demand," said Zhou Jian, deputy chief engineer of the Electric Power Dispatching Control Center of State Grid Sichuan Electric Power Company.
"During peak demand hours, coal-fired units should be running at high capacity so that the power supply can be assured. This means Sichuan has a big demand for the fossil fuel.
According to the government's target of coal stockpiles at power plants in summer, power plants in the province need to store 2.4 million tonnes at least. By far, the coal inventory is at the lowest level in the history, far from the target.
If coal stockpiles are not enough in some periods, it will cause forced power outages, Zhou warned.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Tammy Yang)
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