Picture: The State Grid Corporation of China stated that it is necessary to avoid the occurrence of power cuts as much as possible. The picture shows workers assembling vehicles in the FAW assembly workshop in Changchun City. Xinhua News Agency
Affected by factors such as the sudden drop in wind power, the nationwide coal shortage, and high coal prices, most provinces in the mainland have experienced power shortages in the past few days, and many places have cut off electricity. In order to prevent the collapse of the entire power grid, the Northeast Power Grid Dispatching Department implemented the “power grid accidents to cut off the power grid” in accordance with relevant plans, and the production of enterprises and the lives of the people were affected to varying degrees. The State Grid Corporation of China stated on the 27th that it will guarantee basic electricity demand for people’s livelihood, strengthen unified dispatch across the entire network, tap the potential of cross-regional and cross-provincial channels, avoid power cuts to the greatest possible extent, and resolutely maintain the bottom line of people’s livelihood, development and safety. Ta Kung Pao reporters Song Wei, Lu Ye and Yu Haijiang report
Since the 23rd, many places in Northeast China have issued power rationing notices, stating that if the power shortage is not relieved, power rationing may continue. On the 23rd, power supply was restricted in parts of Shenbei New District and Hunnan New District in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, and there were roads that were severely congested due to lack of power to signal lights. Mr. Shi, an operator of a restaurant in Shenbei New District, said that the power outage that day was particularly sudden. The power outage lasted from 4 pm to 11:30 pm without receiving any notice before. “The impact of power outages on restaurants is particularly great, especially when there are many nearby workers who can’t even eat meals without power.”
23 People Poisoned in Shenyang Power Outage
In some areas of Shenyang, the power cut was opened the next day. Penghui Foundry, located in Liaoyang, Liaoning, shut down its exhaust system due to a sudden power cut. 23 workers suffered a blast furnace gas poisoning accident, and the injured were not in danger for the time being.
A reporter from Ta Kung Pao was informed that this round of power rationing in Northeast China was mostly concentrated in prefecture-level cities, counties, and rural areas. When the risk of the power grid increased, there were even several power outages in a day and power outages for more than 12 hours. “There is no advance notice for the power cut. It is a notice issued by the power supply department after the power outage. Because there is no advance preparation, the mobile phone cannot be charged and the network signal is also cut off.” Zhao Jun, a citizen of Tonghua, Jilin said frankly.
Guo Jinrong, a villager in Piaohe Town, Jiaohe City, Jilin, said in an interview that he had been banned for 4 consecutive days, basically from 17:00 to 23:00 every day. Now the power is cut every day. He already has experience and every family has prepared a large amount of water. The tank is filled with water for domestic use. The autumn harvest is about to come soon. Whether the curtailment of electricity will affect the normal operation of home machinery and equipment, thereby affecting the autumn harvest, is the primary consideration at present.
The State Grid stated that the Northeast region has implemented orderly use of electricity for non-residents, but there is still a power gap after the implementation, and the entire grid is in danger of collapsing, so it has adopted measures to restrict electricity to residents. After the shortage of power supply and demand eases, priority will be given to the restoration of residential electricity. The reporter learned that large-scale residential power outages have not yet occurred in megacities such as Harbin and Dalian.
From September 23 to 25, the power supply gap in Liaoning Province further increased to a severe level. In response to the severe power supply situation, Liaoning Province held a power security work conference on the 26th, requesting that the orderly use of power is implemented in place, and the maximum possible avoidance of power cuts. All local power operation authorities have avoided that the power cuts involve safety production, people’s livelihood and important users. The meeting requested that power generation companies increase their power generation capacity during peak hours. Power grid companies should extend the time for orderly electricity load gap forecasting and the release time of early warning levels, expand the scope of notification, and facilitate users to arrange electricity use plans in advance.
The Jilin Provincial Government announced on the 26th that it will avoid the power cuts as much as possible, make every effort to fight the tough battle to ensure the supply of coal, electricity and heat, and resolutely maintain the bottom line of people’s livelihood, development and safety. The Heilongjiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission also announced that the Heilongjiang Province power system will strengthen the analysis and forecast of the power supply and demand balance, make early warnings and forecasts, organize power generation companies to increase power supply as soon as possible, and strive to resolve the power shortage.
Companies are forced to temporarily suspend production and reduce production
In fact, in addition to the three northeastern provinces, many mainland provinces have imposed temporary suspension of production and reduction of production capacity due to the shortage of power supply in the past few days. The companies subject to power rationing are mainly high-power-consuming industries such as steel, electrolytic aluminum and cement. The State Grid stated that it is necessary to strengthen the unified dispatch of the entire network, tap the potential of cross-regional and cross-provincial channels, strengthen the monitoring of power consumption, strictly implement the government’s demand response and orderly power use plans, and improve various emergency plans.