Power firms ready to handle rise in demand for electricity

By Zou Qi  |   2008-6-13  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THE demand for power this summer will reach 23.5 million kilowatts, an increase of more than 10 percent over last year, the Shanghai Electric Power Co said yesterday.

Local suppliers are ready to deal with the upcoming power peak during the summer - June 15 to September 23.

In the past five months, the highest power demand reached 18.04 million kilowatts in the city, rising by 13.64 percent compared to the same period last year. At present, the city has 15.4 million kilowatts of generating capacity, after the two power generation sets with the capacity of 1 million kilowatts at the Waigaoqiao Power Plant were put into operation to meet this summer's demand.

In addition to enhancing generation capability by renovating equipment, Shanghai will buy 7.6 million kilowatts of additional power from other provinces if necessary, said Shanghai Electric.

According to the city's meteorologists, there will be about 30 days this summer when temperatures will exceed 35 degrees Celsius.

Shanghai Electric officials said they were concerned about whether there would be enough electricity from other provinces.

Under the pressure of power shortage, intentional blackouts will be tried out in Chunshen and Gumei areas of Minhang District, as well as in Yangpu and Hongkou districts. Companies in these areas will have to change production schedules during the summer to cope with expected power shortages.

Local power suppliers said they would focus on technology to reduce emissions to help protect the environment while the power capacity was being promoted.

The Waigaoqiao Power Plant said its two power generation sets were put into operation on March 26 and June 7 respectively, and the first set was proved to manage about 95 percent efficiency for desulfurizing during more than two months of operations.

The two electricity-generating sets together can save more than 800,000 tons of raw coal consumption annually.

Because of this, the Waigaoqiao plant was awarded the Golden Medal at the Shanghai International Energy-saving & Environmental Protection Expo earlier this week.