Chinese authorities have stepped up emergency measures to deal with extreme heat and a devastating drought in the southwestern part of the country that has dimmed cities and forced electric vehicle drivers to Struggling to recharge the car.
A record-breaking months-long heatwave, with temperatures reaching 43.4 degrees Celsius in Chengdu on Sunday, has dried up rivers and dams in Hubei and Sichuan provinces, which depend on water for their livelihoods. electricity.
This situation has had a major impact on electricity supplies in other parts of the country, like economy affected by Beijing’s zero-Covid restrictions and the crisis in the real estate sector.
Officials in Sichuan have declared the event a “level 1” emergency, the highest possible, and at least 50 mobile generators from other provinces have been dispatched to help stabilize local power supply, said China State Grid Corporation.
Authorities have suspended power supply to several factories, forcing manufacturers such as Toyota and Foxconn suspended operations in Sichuana province of 84 million people and a center for lithium mining and solar panel production.
Lier Chemical, a listed pesticide manufacturer in Shenzhen, said in a filing Monday that local officials had extended the industrial power cut until Thursday.
The cities of Chongqing and Chengdu have asked to reduce lighting, shopping malls and office buildings have turned off illuminated outdoor advertising and suspended the use of elevators. Office workers in Chengdu were also asked to set their air conditioners at 27 degrees Celsius in an effort to reduce energy use.
Shanghai, which is partly dependent on hydroelectricity from the region, said over the weekend it would suspend its popular daily light show on the Bund, the riverside area of commercial buildings, in two days.
Electric vehicle owners in Sichuan and Chongqing also complained that charging stations had been closed. Tesla said only two of its 14 charging stations in Chengdu were open on August 17.
“[I am] either charging my car or looking for a bunch of available chargers,” wrote one electric car owner in the city on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging platform.
The extremely hot weather is forecast to last for the rest of the month, and analysts say the high temperatures will put additional pressure on the economy.
“With the restrictions of Covid. . . is still a daily problem of the country. . . and a real estate sector in the midst of a significant recovery, a black swan event occurred with a record two-month heatwave,” said Jefferies analysts.
“The drought has created a vicious cycle as hydroelectricity becomes scarce, thereby cutting power output for industry.”
“Sichuan is currently facing its hottest temperature and worst drought in 60 years, with hydroelectricity down 51 percent,” Morgan Stanley analysts Simon Lee and Leo Deng wrote in a report. study, adding that the government expected the situation to be protracted. to the end of August.
They said 19 provinces are experiencing record high electricity demand due to high temperatures.
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