China's worst heat wave on record is crippling power supplies. How it reacts will impact us all - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

China's worst heat wave on record is crippling power supplies. How it reacts will impact us all - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

Nectar Gan   China's worst heat wave on record is crippling power supplies. How it reacts will impact us all

For weeks now, a power crunch caused by a record heat wave and accompanying drought has wreaked havoc across Sichuan, a province home to 80 million people in southwestern China.   It's dimmed skyscrapers, shut factories, darkened subways, and plunged homes and offices into rolling blackouts, forcing air conditioning to be unplugged — and killed thousands of poultry and fish at farms hit by electricity cuts.   The impact has been felt far and wide, from the neighboring mega city of Chongqing and the eastern provinces along the Yangtze River to the financial hub of Shanghai — where the iconic skyline went dark this week to save energy.   In a country that prides itself on economic growth and stability, the acute power shortage has come as a shock to residents who in recent decades have grown used to improved living conditions and infrastructure.   To many, extended power cuts revive memories of the distant past — a bygone era before China's economic rise ushered in its glitzy metropolises and lifted millions out of poverty.   And now, climate change is threatening to disrupt that sense of security and economic growth.   The ongoing heat wave is the worst China has seen since records began more than 60 years ago. It has stretched over 70 days, sweeping through large swathes of the country and smashing temperature records at hundreds of weather stations.   The sheer size of China's economy and population means any major disruption to its power supply can cause massive loss and suffering.   "These so-called extreme weather events will have more impact on our lives and electricity supply," said Li Shuo, climate adviser with Greenpeace in Beijing. "And perhaps we all need to reconsider whether these extreme events will become the new normal."   Experts say the Sichuan power crunch is an example that China's energy system is far less robust than it needs to be to face the growing challenges from climate change.   Some believe the industry is heading in the right direction toward reform, while others worry it will turn to building more coal-fired power plants to secure energy supply — and risk undermining China's pledges to reach peak carbon by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.   How did the power crunch happen?   Located along the upper reaches of the Yangtze, China's longest and largest river, Sichuan is famous for its rich water resources and relies mostly on hydropower.   Amid scorching temperatures and a prolonged drought, reservoirs across Sichuan are drying up — crippling the hydropower stations that account for nearly 80% of the province's power generation capacity.   This month, Sichuan has seen its hydroelectricity capacity plunge by 50%, according to the state grid. Meanwhile, the unrelenting heat wave has pushed power demand to unprecedented highs, as residents and businesses blast their air conditioning to stay cool.   "China's electricity demand has been incredibly flat in the past, because so much of it has come from the industry, not from households or services. Now with air conditioning becoming more common, the demand is becoming higher," said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air in Helsinki, Finland (CREA).   "At the same time, rains are becoming more errant. Heavy rains and periods of drought make hydropower much less reliable as a source of available capacity during those peaks."   To make matters worse, Sichuan is traditionally a huge exporter of power during the rainy season, sending about a third of its hydropower generation to provinces in eastern China, according to David Fishman, an analyst on Chinese energy at consultancy The Lantau Group.   Despite its crippled power generation capacity, Sichuan must still honor its export contracts with other provinces, which Fishman said could "be really hard to get out of."   "But even if they could, the generating facilities in Sichuan were built to export power to the east coast," he said. "They don't really have great connectivity to the rest of the Sichuan grid. They were never intended to serve Sichuan power consumption needs."   'Quenching a thirst with poison'   To ease the energy crunch, Sichuan is firing up its coal power plants, raising concerns among environmentalists about the potential increase in greenhouse gas emissions.   Sichuan Guang'an Power Generation, the region's biggest coal-fired power plant, has been operating at full capacity for 21 consecutive days. Its electricity generation for August is expected to jump 313% from a year earlier, the company said.   The province is also mining more coal. Sichuan Coal Industry Group, its largest coal miner, has more than doubled its thermal coal production since mid-August. And last week, Sichuan opened its first national coal reserve.   Nationwide, the daily consumption of coal at power plants was up 15% in the first two weeks of August compared with the same period last year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.   Last week, Chinese vice-premier Han Zheng said the government would step up support for coal plants to ensure stable power supply.   While the jump in coal consumption is likely a temporary fix, Li, the Greenpeace adviser, feared the hydropower crisis could be used by coal interest groups to lobby for more coal plants.   "There is a possibility that power shortages caused by future extreme weather events might become a new motivation for China to approve more (coal-fired power) projects," he said.   Last year, after a coal shortage caused a series of power outages across China, the government began to signal a renewed focus on "energy security." By the last quarter of the year, new-approved coal capacity surged back, especially in state-owned enterprises, Greenpeace said in a report published last month.   In the first quarter of this year, provincial governments approved plans to add a total of 8.63 gigawatts of new coal power plants, nearly half the amount seen in all of 2021, according to the report.   "Energy security has become a sort of code word for coal, rather than for reliable supply of energy," the report said.   Yu Aiqun, China researcher at Global Energy Monitor, likened turning to coal — the largest cause of global warming — for energy security to "quenching a thirst with poison."   "China has an obsession with coal power — there is a very strong sense of dependence. Whenever an energy problem occurs, it always tries to seek answer from coal power ...This is running in the opposite direction from its climate goals," she said.   Read the full story here.

Nectar Gan is China Reporter for CNN International in Hong Kong. She covers the changes taking place in China, and their impact on the world.

Masked match China’s national women’s volleyball team sparked a social media storm Thursday for wearing face masks in their Asian Cup match against Iran. China lost the opening set while wearing the N95 masks. They then removed them — and won the three subsequent sets to claim victory. Many online posters accused authorities of sacrificing the players’ health in an overzealous pursuit of the country’s zero-Covid policy. Following the backlash, China’s volleyball association apologized Friday for “causing widespread attention and concern in society.” It said the team had required all players to wear masks while entering the court as a precaution against Covid-19. “Due to our lack of experience on the field, we did not remind the players to take off their masks in time,” it said in a statement.   “We realized wearing masks was bad for athletes’ health in the second half of the first set, and the team promptly reminded the players to take off their masks and finish the rest of the game,” the association said.

Long-awaited report It's been four years since a committee of United Nations experts called attention to "credible reports" that more than 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minority peoples were interned in extrajudicial camps in Xinjiang in northwestern China for "re-education" and indoctrination.   But since that moment in August 2018, the international community has done little on the basis of those reports within the UN: Countries in the UN's main human rights body have not agreed to any formal call for a probe, while appeals from UN experts for China to allow for rights monitoring have been met with fierce denials of wrongdoing from Beijing and no invite for free access to come see for themselves.   Now, a report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet could bolster the push for accountability and elevate the voices of survivors and their families in a way the UN system has not previously done — creating the potential for a turning point for how the international community, and top UN officials, have handled these accounts.   But the report itself appears to be bogged down in review, following what's already been months of delay, with Bachelet on Thursday saying her office was "trying" to release it before the end of her term on August 31 as promised in June, but they were still reviewing "substantial input" from China, which she said was granted access to make "factual comments" as per standard procedure.   How impactful that report will be also depends on its contents. Bachelet has already been accused by human rights groups and academic experts of being soft on Beijing after a controversial visit to China earlier this year.   Releasing a strong report — and acting on it — would mean going up against China, which has amassed what multiple UN insiders and experts call significant power among countries within the UN system, built by leveraging its economic might and championing an alternative vision of human rights — as well as systematically pushing back on any effort, however small, to challenge its human rights record, including the High Commissioner's report.   Earlier in her term, Bachelet said she sought "full access to carry out an independent assessment of the continuing reports pointing to wide patterns of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions," but while she did not gain unfettered access in her eventual trip this past May, she has said the report was updated following that trip.   China's Foreign Ministry has already publicly decried the report, with a spokesman late last month calling on the High Commissioner's office to "respect the serious concern of the Chinese people and everyone speaking for justice in the world, stand on the right side of history and reject publishing an assessment on Xinjiang based on false information and false accusations."   The spokesman did not confirm if Beijing had seen the forthcoming report at that time or elaborate on which parts he believed would be "false," though China has denied all rights abuses. Bachelet on Thursday said the report "looks in depth" at allegations of "serious human rights violations."   Read the full story here.   — From CNN's Simone McCarthy

China has unveiled 19 new measures to shore up its economy and "secure drinking water" supply as the country struggles with its worst heat wave in 60 years and rigid Covld lockdowns.   The new measures announced by China's cabinet on Wednesday amount to more than $146 billion in funding to improve infrastructure, ease power shortages, and tackle drought, including money to secure rice production.   "The current economic recovery has a weak foundation," the statement said, adding that the new funding was aimed at stabilizing the economy. Premier Li Keqiang hosted the cabinet meeting.   Beijing has tried to boost investment and consumption in the world's second-largest economy more than once this year. In May, the government announced 33 measures to revive growth.   Despite these interventions, the Chinese economy has deteriorated in recent months because of Covid lockdowns and a deepening property downturn. Analysts are also concerned about the impact China's record heat wave and drought will have on growth. Already, several international businesses, including Tesla and Toyota, have faced disruption at factories due to power outages.   Several major investment banks, including Goldman Sachs and Nomura, downgraded China's economic growth forecasts for 2022 to 3% or under, as the heat wave hit industrial heartlands. That's way below the 5.5% growth target set by the Chinese government earlier this year.   China's biggest focus remains infrastructure growth.   With the central bank's support, state development banks can lend $44 billion to finance infrastructure projects, the statement said. That's on top of $161 billion already committed in June.   Local governments will also be permitted to issue $73 billion in debt to fund the building of roads, railways, airports, affordable housing and energy projects. That's in addition to $511 billion of bonds they were given permission to issue for the same purposes earlier this year.   Li also urged all government departments to "do a better job" in battling the drought and mitigating its impacts. He called for more wells to be drilled, and more drought-resistant water sources to be developed, in addition to seeding clouds, which China resorted to earlier this month to bring more rainfall to the Yangtze River.   "Priority should be given to ensuring people's drinking water, and to transport and deliver the water when necessary," Li added.