Key Chinese cities have warned that homes and factories face new power outages as historic demand and supply shortages strain energy grids.
Populous centers including Beijing and Xi’an have alerted electricity users there will be scheduled disruptions as grid operators struggle to maintain overloaded networks. Eleven provinces including eastern manufacturing hubs and landlocked central China, which also suffered outages during last winter’s cold spell, reported record demand and peak-load surges last week, according to the State Grid Corp. of China.
The nation’s electricity providers are experiencing similar pressures seen in the U.S. and other hot spots around the world as temperatures reach alarming levels during the early weeks of summer. Exacerbating the situation in China is a strong economic rebound from the pandemic, which helped spur a 10% surge in power consumption last month.