Source: Beijing Business Daily
From industrial power rationing to civil power rationing, the impact of power shortage in Northeast China has lasted for several days. On September 27, the three northeastern provinces all responded to the power supply situation, and the State Grid Corporation of China also responded that it would try its best to avoid power cut and power restriction, and firmly uphold the bottom line of people's livelihood, development and security. In addition to the three northeastern provinces, Hunan, Guangzhou and other places have also experienced a shortage of power supply recently. Some people believe that this is related to the "dual control" of energy consumption. To this end, experts in the industry said that the impact of the "dual control" is indirect. The main reason for the power gap is that it is difficult for the supply side to quickly respond to demand growth, so it is necessary to ensure coal supply.
Sudden "power cut"
Mr. Gao, who lives in Panjin, Liaoning Province, has had several power outages these days. He told the Beijing Business Daily that the area where he is located is the district/county power failure in turn. "At the beginning, it was stopped in turn during the day, which had little impact. Recently, a sudden switch was pulled, and someone was trapped in the elevator. There was also a power failure at night, and everyone was buying rechargeable table lamps. If you can give a notice in advance, it would be better to at least avoid being locked in the elevator.".
According to media reports, by September 27, power failure had lasted for 4 days in Northeast China. The mobile phone has no signal, because the traffic lights on the city's main roads cannot work normally due to power failure, and some shops can only light candles for business. This power restriction is mostly used by urban and suburban residents. In an interview with the media, the staff of relevant power departments in many places in Northeast China said that the restriction on residents' electricity use was because there was still a gap after orderly electricity use for non residents.
The power failure further led to water failure. Jilin Xinbei Water Co., Ltd. issued an announcement on official WeChat on September 26, saying that it would "cut power and limit power irregularly, irregularly, without plan and without notice. This situation will continue until March 2022, and power failure and water failure will become normal". However, on the 27th, the company said in a statement of apology that the above notice was improperly worded and inaccurate.
Safety production accidents caused by sudden power restriction have also attracted wide attention. According to CCTV, on September 24, Liaoning Penghui Casting Co., Ltd. suffered from blast furnace gas poisoning due to the sudden power restriction, which led to the shutdown of the exhaust system. In the accident, 23 people were sent to Liaoyang Central Hospital for treatment. As of the 27th, 23 people were still in hospital for observation and treatment, and their lives were not in danger.
Yuan Jiahai, a professor of North China Electric Power University, told the Beijing Business Daily that "there is a hierarchical plan for orderly power use, and the power grid company cannot fail to notify in advance according to the procedure. To the extent of switching off and power restriction, the gap must be large enough to affect the security of the power grid".
Zhang Chao, director of the Electricity Price Office of the Financial Audit Institute of the State Grid Energy Research Institute, also said in an interview with the Beijing Business Daily, "I learned from my colleagues in Liaoning that power rationing is completely in accordance with regulations, including national policy requirements, industry standards, orderly power use management measures of the State Grid. Therefore, if it really affects residents, it is likely that the scale of power restriction exceeds the priority limit of power consumption, and only residents can use power in an orderly manner ".
"Of course, due to the emergency of power rationing this time, there will inevitably be problems of 'notification omission' and 'delayed notification', which requires power grid enterprises to strengthen orderly power use management and use multiple channels to make early warning in advance," said Zhang Chao.
Lack of power supply in many places
At present, the national power supply situation is not optimistic. On September 26, the power security work conference held in Liaoning pointed out that since July, due to the sharp decline in power generation capacity, Liaoning Province is short of power. From September 23 to 25, the power supply gap further increased to a serious level.
In Hunan Province, due to the shortage of power supply, many parks such as Tongxin and Xincheng Science Park in Changsha High tech Zone have suggested that the enterprises settled in the park take a holiday in advance. Cities in Guangdong Province have also launched orderly power use plans, and industrial enterprises in many places have "started three stops four" or even "started two stops five" off peak power use.
Why does the power supply shortage occur? Yuan Jiahai believed that lack of coal, high coal price and reluctance of coal power generation units to generate electricity due to losses were the main reasons on the supply side. In addition, the northeast region also had to add the factor of low output of new energy.
Zhang Chao also said through analysis that at present, China's power supply is limited by coal production capacity, and the supply of coal-fired power generation is limited, so the supply is tight. And because of the recovery of the domestic epidemic and the entry of foreign orders, electricity consumption increased significantly year on year. On the whole, the main reason for the power gap is that in the past few years, coal controlled capacity and limited output, which made it difficult for the supply side to respond to the demand growth quickly. At the same time, the power demand growth exceeded expectations. The superposition of the two reasons led to supply and demand mismatch. In addition to the impact of coal supply, the recent wind power photovoltaic output fluctuates significantly, which also constitutes a power shortage problem in Northeast China.
Zhang Chao said that to make up for the power gap, on the one hand, it is necessary to restore some of the available coal production capacity, increase production and ensure coal supply; On the other hand, it is still necessary to do a good job in the orderly management of electricity use, resolutely do a good job in accordance with regulations, reduce unnecessary electricity use, and encourage people to save electricity. The winter heating period is coming, and it is expected that coal supply will be difficult to recover in a large scale in the short term, so it is expected that power supply and demand will remain tight.
In response to the current power supply situation, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces have responded in succession. The State Grid Corporation of China also said on September 27 that it would be best to avoid the situation of power cut and limit. Strengthen the unified dispatching of the whole network, reasonably arrange the operation mode, serve the power generation enterprises well, and do the best. As for the specific time to restore stable power supply and other issues, the reporter of Beijing Business Daily contacted the State Grid Corporation of China, and no reply has been received as of press release.
Is it related to "dual control" of energy consumption?
As for the phenomenon of power rationing in many places, some people think that it has something to do with the recent "dual control" measures of energy consumption. In August this year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Barometer of the Completion of the Dual Control Target of Energy Consumption in All Regions in the First Half of 2021. The energy intensity of nine provinces (regions) in the first half of 2021 did not decline but rose, which was listed as a red first level warning. In this regard, the National Development and Reform Commission requires these provinces (regions) to urge all regions to take effective measures to ensure the completion of the annual energy consumption dual control target, especially the target task of reducing energy intensity.
As for whether this round of off peak power supply is related to "dual control", Liu Wensheng, Deputy Director of Guangdong Provincial Energy Administration, pointed out that this round of off peak power use is mainly due to the dual growth of high temperature "sustaining" power load, the limited generating capacity of units in the province and other factors, not because of dual control of energy consumption. Guangdong Province insists on promoting dual control of energy consumption according to laws and regulations, avoids the "one size fits all" approach, and takes measures such as shutdown, production suspension and rectification for "two high" projects such as construction without approval and in accordance with laws and regulations.
A number of insiders and experts in the industry also told the Beijing Business Daily that power rationing in many places has little to do with the "dual control" measures, and the reasons behind them are complex and diverse.
"The country has just revised the 'double control' mechanism to make it more flexible. Therefore, there is no sudden tightening of the double carbon target at the policy level. The energy consumption in the first half of the year in the double red light areas is too high, and compared with last year, the orderly use of electricity was implemented in advance, first because of the tight power supply, and second because of the need to achieve the annual target." Yuan Jiahai said, but he also stressed that, "The local government really needs to optimize the energy 'dual control' mechanism, which can not be slack at ordinary times, and can not affect people's livelihood and the normal operation of the economy at the last moment when the temporary emergency brake is handed over."
Zhang Chao also has a similar view. He also mentioned that "it is not ruled out that some regions implement power rationing to meet the requirements of 'dual control', but at present, it has not been able to analyze which regions' power rationing is the main purpose. Perhaps more cases are the shortage of power supply, and the 'dual control' red card is an indirect reason".
Beijing Business Daily reporter Tao Feng, Lv Yinling
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