China faces power deficit despite fast output rise

BEIJING, June 11 (Reuters) China will face ''sizable pressure'' to ensure ample power during the summer despite a booming growth in power output, a senior government official warned.

Electricity output in the first five months rose 15.8 per cent from a year earlier, the fastest rise for the period in the past three years, said Ou Xinqian, a deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

However, power supplies could be strained by soaring power demand as well as the likelihood of more extreme weather this year, including drought and violent storms, Ou said in a report posted on the NDRC's Web site (www.ndrc.gov.cn).

She did not provide estimates of likely demand or supply shortfalls for the summer months.

The NDRC, China's top economic planner, said late last month that power shortages are expected in industrial hubs Guangdong and Zhejiang, coal-rich Shanxi, heavy industry-laden Liaoning, inland Sichuan and island Hainan provinces.

China's main grid operator had also warned of power shortages in the summer in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing, as well as in several other provinces.

It estimated the deficit would rise to as much as 1.1 million kilowatts in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region and 800,000 to one million kilowatts in central Henan, northern Liaoning and northern Shanxi provinces, respectively, official media had reported.

Power shortages in southern Guangdong reached 4 million kilowatts in April, forcing factories to cut production and suggesting a fifth summer of brownouts may lie ahead.

Reuters SKB DB0912