Since this March, many places in China have been plagued by “power shortage” in low season. Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi and Guizhou have taken electricity rationing measures to cope with electric power shortage.

According to prediction of East China Power Grid, during the peak period this summer, East China Power Grid will suffer from power shortage of approximately 19 million KW. As early as the start of this spring, Zhejiang began to cut power supplies to enterprises every four days or 2 days every week. It is reported that,lead-acid accumulator enterprises of Changxing County of Zhejiang Province are required to cut power off 4 days every week. The responsible person of a battery enterprise says, “if there is no new supply of electric power in the peak time this summer, power supplies to leadacid accumulator enterprises will face difficult challenges”.

Recently, Tan Rongyao, Supervisor of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission indicated that China will enter the peak time of electric consumption in June, and it is expected that China’s maximum electric power shortage during this period will reach approximately 30 million KW. 2011 will be the most difficult year for power supply, and the shortage of electric power is likely to exceed that of record high of 2004. Under the circumstance of nationwide power shortage, local governments have to decide to cut off the power supplies to energy-intensive enterprises in order to ensure household power supply.

In addition, Shuai Junqing, Vice President of SGCC, considers that resurgence of energyintensive industries is an important factor in increase of electric power consumption and aggravates power shortage. It is reported that production capacity of energy-intensive industries has been unleashed, which was suppressed due to the pressure to meet targets of energy saving and emission reduction. During the first quarter, power consumption increase of energyintensive industries such as chemical and nonferrous metals contributes to the power consumption of the entire society by more than 30 percent. During the first quarter of 2011, power consumption of energy-intensive industries of Zhejiang (including nonferrous metals) increased by 20%.

It is reported that some areas are plagued by frequent blackout during the period between January and April. Shuai Junqing said, “Currently, some provinces in East China and Central China have begun to cut off power supplies to industrial consumers, and more measures will be taken to limit power supply during the peak time this summer.” By that time, energyintensive non-ferrous metals industry will be inevitably affected by blackout, and operating ratio will likely drop.