Beijing
will face another electricity shortage this summer, with expected
supply gap of one million kilowatts, said an official with the
municipal Development and Reform Commission Thursday.
Wang Haiping, vice director of the commission, told a press
conference that Beijing will need 10.7 million kilowatts
electricity at maximum this summer, according to Friday's
Beijing News.
Wang said that measures will be taken to avoid blackout, which
includes arranging 131 major businesses to stop production during
the peak electricity consuming time. Other measures include
adjusting usage by offering different electricity prices to peak
and off-peak hours.
According to Wang, Beijing will coordinate with power grids in
other parts of China to ensure that supply to the capital will
increase by 350,000 kilowatts during summer.
Beijing will also accelerate upgrading its power grids by
investing 2.02 billion yuan (about US$243 million) to resolve the
shortage.
(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2005)