By Nicholas Earl
China has offered support for its coal power plants to maintain electricity supplies, as demand for energy surges amid extreme heat and droughts in the south-west of the country.
The country’s vice-premier Han Zheng revealed yesterday that the government would provide support for coal, with daily consumption of the fuel up 15 per cent in the first two weeks of August compared with the same period last year.
He revealed the government will “enhance policy support [and] take multiple measures to help coal plants ease actual difficulties”, without offering details.
A sustained heatwave and a lack of rain has deprived dams of water in Sichuan, a province of 80m which mostly relies on hydropower.
This has disrupted crop growth, threatened livestock and forced industries in the hydropower-dependent regions of the south-west to shut down to ensure electricity supplies for homes.
Shutdowns have occurred in both Sichuan and the neighbouring municipality of Chongqing.
Overall, the heatwave has run for 64 days, making it the longest since records began.
The drought has seen some local governments along the Yangtze River -which fell to a record low last week – attempt to influence the weather.
Cities along dried-out parts of the river, including Chongqing and Wuhan, have fired metal canisters into the air to seed clouds and induce condensation.
China has consistently warned it faces increasing extreme weather events in the coming years as it tries to adapt to climate change and rising temperatures, which are likely to be more severe than elsewhere.
The current extreme heat has been powered by high pressure from the western Pacific extending over much of Asia.
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