Demand for electricity in southern manufacturing hubs, including Guangdong, has surged in recent days, with China Southern Power Grid, one of the country’s two grid operators, seeing peak power load exceeding 200 million kilowatts – weeks earlier than normal and close to historical highs.
In recent days, the power load in Hainan rose above 7 million kW for the first time, and also hit record highs in Guangxi, but twice, according to state media reports, with further rises expected in other southern provinces including Yunnan and Guizhou in coming days.
Nationwide temperatures this month will about the same as a year earlier, but in parts of the Yangtze River delta, including Shanghai, as well as parts of southwest China, such as Sichuan and Yunnan, temperatures will be 1 to 2 degrees Celsius higher, Gao Rong, deputy director of the National Climate Centre, told a press conference on Friday.
In the summer of 2022, extreme heat in China pushed authorities to ration power use. Hydropower output, key in giant provinces such as Sichuan, was also hit due to prolonged drought-like conditions.
Powerful convection weather has also wreaked havoc in central China in recent weeks, with protracted downpours and even hail devastating the country’s ongoing wheat harvest. In Henan province, known as the granary of China, moderate to heavy rains are expected to continue till at least Jun 4.