China's major coal province to face worst power supply shortage this summer: official

North China's Shanxi province, the country's leading coal producer, will suffer a power supply shortage of 3 million kilowatts this summer, the worst in history, said the Shanxi Electric Power Company Tuesday.

The electricity generated by local power stations can only meet 70 percent of the demand, General Manager of Shanxi Electric Power Company Li Yuanchao told Xinhua.

The increase in generating capacity falls behind the fast industrial growth, which requires an annual surge of 20 percent of the generating capacity, said Li.

Poor power transmission network and inefficient coal usage also aggravated the situation, said Zhang Fuxuan, director of the company.

To lessen the impact of short electricity supply on agriculture and daily life, big power-consuming businesses and major polluters have been shut off and some factories have been asked to operate off the peak hours, Li said.

The electricity supply in the province has become increasingly short since 2003. The provincial government has come up with a three-year plan to address the electricity shortage by 2007.

Source: Xinhua