Thread: Guangdong Cities in Temporary Darkness Amid China Power Glitch

Residents in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong are reporting power outages around midnight, amid a nationwide power crunch in the wake of a ban on coal imports from Australia.


The outages plunged the streets of industrial cities Dongguan, Shenzhen, Foshan, and Zhuhai, as well as Baiyun district in the provincial capital Guangzhou, into darkness, according to photos and video uploaded to social media.


The outages hit at around midnight on Dec. 21, the traditional Winter Solstice festival in the Chinese lunar calendar, the longest night of the year.


In a statement on Monday, the Guangdong Power Supply Bureau blamed equipment failure affecting customers in the Sanyuanli and Luochongwei areas of Guangzhou.


Full power was restored to the grid after an hour, following emergency repairs, it said.


Water supplies and internet connections were also affected, in an incident later described by state-run China Southern Power Grid as a "grid failure," Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper reported on Monday.


A resident of Guangzhou's Baiyun district surnamed Zeng said there had been many outages in recent weeks.


"After no outages for 10 years, suddenly this is happening again," Zeng said. "The reason in this case is that coal supplies are too scarce, and aren't enough [to meet demand]."


"I heard that they are unable to generate enough electricty."


Residents said there was no notification of the outages in advance, sparking a flurry of complaints posted to social media platforms by frightened residents.


Posts with the keywords "Guangzhou power outage" attracted millions of views during a brief survey of the Sina Weibo microblogging platform by RFA on Monday.


Electricity, water cut off


Power outages also appeared to have affected other services, with residents of Guangzhou’s Liwan and Baiyun districts complaining that the local mobile phone signal was interrupted for 10 to 20 minutes, and that there was no water or electricity supply.


Some posts reported calling the water supply hotline, and being told that the water supply was affected by the power outages.


Posts also reported that hospitals, nursing homes, and school dormitories in some areas were affected, as well as broadband and mobile internet services.


Rights activist Wang Aizhong, who lives in Guangzhou's Tianhe district, said there had also been outages in that area a couple of days earlier.


"Two days ago, there was an announcement on Sina Weibo that there were power outages in some areas out of Guangdong," Wang said. "It wasn't clear whether this was a normal power outage for maintenance or ... due to insufficient power supply."


A waiter in a restaurant in Zhongshan who gave only the surname Zhu told RFA that he had also seen posts about outages in Shenzhen.


Wang Liang, a retired professor at Jiangxi University, said there was no coverage of the outages elsewhere in China, as the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda machine kicks into high gear, with social media posts on the topic soon deleted by censors.


"Any posts about coal shortages or power outages are being deleted," Wang told RFA. "The line is that it's controllable, and that the grid is capable of meeting basic supply needs."


"They are blocking retweets of any Weixin posts about power outages," he said.


Guangdong buys about a quarter of its power from the southwestern province of Yunnan and the massive Three Gorges Dam hydropower project, the Apple Daily said.


It gets half of the rest from coal, a fifth from natural gas, a tenth from nuclear, and the rest from other hydro projects, the paper reported on Monday.


Rationing in other areas


The outages in Guangdong come after power rationing in central Hunan province and the eastern province of Jiangxi, as well as the northern region of Inner Mongolia, which borders the independent country of Mongolia.


A seasonal rise in power consumption due to the winter weather and by factories were among reasons for the restrictions, the Apple Daily said.


The Asia Times newspaper reported on Dec. 18 that office towers and shopping malls had repeatedly gone dark in Shanghai, with companies asking their employees to work from home.


"The festive season’s lights are mostly turned off as the city’s usual holiday vibe is largely muted," the paper said.


"But this time, the lights-out closures spreading across the country are caused by a lack of power, not the pandemic."


It said small and medium businesses in the eastern Zhejiang province were working remotely after local governments there cut off power to prioritize residential users.


China recently formalized import restrictions targeting Australia’s U.S.$14bn coal exports, Chinese state media reported last week.


The State Development and Reform Commission met 10 major power companies on the weekend and granted approval for them to import coal without clearance restrictions, except for Australia, the CCP-linked Global Times newspaper reported.


Guangdong Cities in Temporary Darkness Amid China Power Glitch — Radio Free Asia

It wasn't because of coal shortages but that's a good story. Russias coal exports to china are shooting up

Wow, you know all about power generation in Guangdong too.

Is there no limit to the topics on which you have inside knowledge?

China Limits Power Supplies as Demand Surges on Cold Weather


(Bloomberg) -- China is limiting power supplies in some provinces as cold weather and the country’s industrial recovery boost demand.

Power supplies are being cut to some industrial and commercial customers in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, where demand has jumped by at least 18% over the previous year, Zhao Chenxi, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission said at a Monday press conference. Residential supplies haven’t been affected.

The outages are coming amid soaring costs for coal and natural gas in the world’s biggest energy consuming market. The economic recovery from the pandemic has boosted demand from factories, while a La Nina weather pattern is bringing colder-than-normal temperatures to the region.


Coal supply issues have exacerbated the problem, with transportation constraints contributing to the Hunan and Jiangxi outages, according to Zhao. A spate of deadly mining accidents in recent months have led to increased safety inspections in some region, reducing output. Some provinces are being asked to increase production, Zhao said.

Several other regions, including the cities of Beijing and Chongqing, also face tight electrical supplies after freezing temperatures caused grid problems that require maintenance, State Grid Corp. of China said in a statement.


The supply crunch provided a windfall for China’s power producers and makers of electrical equipment, which surged Tuesday. Jiangxi Ganneng Co. jumped as much as 8.4% to the highest since April 2019, while Datang Huayin Electric Power Co. advanced as much as 7.4%. Baoding Tianwei Baobian Electric Co., which makes equipment like transformers, rose by the 10% daily limit in Shanghai.


China Limits Power Supplies as Demand Surges on Cold Weather

Originally Posted by misskit

amid a nationwide power crunch in the wake of a ban on coal imports from Australia.

Uncle Jack Skellington says Merry Christmas...

Bwahahahahahaha....

At least Australia will have enough coal to stay extra warm next winter. Or maybe they'll sell the excess to China anyways, via Russia.

Originally Posted by TTraveler

maybe they'll sell the excess to China anyways, via Russia.

Now you're thinking like an Asian

We use natural gas
Its abundant.