Recently, there has been news of power restrictions and savings in many parts of mainland China, including Zhejiang, Hunan and Jiangxi. Some analysts believe that this is related to China’s restriction of coal imports from Australia; however, others have cited relevant data to support the denial of this claim. There is much speculation about the reasons behind this, and the subsequent official response from the Chinese Communist Party has sparked even more controversy.
Many places restrict power production and shut down production is related to Australian coal imports?
Comprehensive land media reports, recently, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and other places have issued a notice related to the orderly use of electricity or power restrictions. The Development and Reform Commission of Jiangxi Province announced that from December 15, the daily morning and evening peak periods will be interruptible and the orderly use of electricity will be initiated. Zhejiang Province and several cities also issued a notice requiring the office area of the unit concerned to open air conditioning and other heating equipment only when the temperature drops below 3 degrees Celsius (including 3 degrees Celsius), and the set temperature shall not exceed 16 degrees Celsius. Some areas are even limiting electricity to business production.
The authorities gave the reasons for the relevant power restrictions, including: the rapid recovery of industrial production to pull the growth of electricity, encountered extremely cold weather, further increase the electricity load, limited external power receiving capacity and unit failure to increase the power supply difficulties and other factors. At the same time also said that the reason why some places in Zhejiang took measures to limit electricity, only to promote energy conservation and emission reduction, and also claimed that there is no power supply shortage.
In addition, the relevant person in charge of the Development and Reform Commission of Hunan Province said that Hunan Province, the full amount of the regulation of thermal power units on the grid to generate electricity from Gansu, Three Gorges and other ultra-high voltage, ultra-high voltage lines at full capacity to send electricity to Hunan. The relevant departments of Hunan Province is also coordinating the work of Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places coal railroad capacity.
For the official “to promote the orderly use of electricity” reason, there are different statements, the most is the coal shortage, and this statement is mostly related to China-Australia tension, China suspended imports of Australian coal imports.
Mainland “cloud finance” pointed out that the main reason for power restrictions and blackouts is that China suspended the import of Australian coal from November 6, resulting in a shortage of coal for power generation. Australian power coal accounts for about 57% of China’s imports and 1.6% of consumption. If no more Australian coal is imported, it may cause short-term supply shortage in some areas.
However, the argument that power restrictions in many parts of China are related to the reduction of Australian coal imports has caused a lot of controversy.
Controversy over official sophistry widely circulated on Weibo
A mainland technology blogger refuted that as of October, China has purchased 70.49 million tons of coal from Australia this year. That is to say, even if the remaining two months of this year no longer import Australian coal, it is only 22 million tons less than last year, the difference only accounts for 0.54% of China’s coal consumption in 2019, and coal 70% of the national heating power supply, so the reduction of the number of Australian coal imports on the national heating power supply theoretical impact of the upper limit of only 0.38% In addition, reduce the import of Australian coal, China can also easily find In addition, by reducing Australian coal imports, China can easily find alternative supply countries.
In this regard, China’s National Development and Reform Commission responded on the 17th, affected by multiple factors, China’s national electricity demand has been growing rapidly since December. At present, the residents of these areas are not affected by electricity, power supply capacity is generally sufficient to ensure the smooth use of electricity.
The Development and Reform Commission also pointed out three reasons behind: first, the rapid recovery of industrial production to pull the growth of electricity; second, encountered extreme cold weather to further increase the electricity load; third, the limited capacity of external power and unit failure to increase the power supply difficulties.
However, the official announcement of the ban on coal imports from Australia was followed by the announcement of power restrictions and savings, which are very close to each other and have not occurred in recent years. Therefore, the official statement has been questioned by the outside world.
Since the beginning of this year, the Chinese Communist Party has escalated its sanctions against Australia. Beijing has imposed extreme sanctions on Australian beef, barley, lobster, wine, sugar, wool, copper ore, and coal. These include a 212 percent tariff (margin) on Australian wine. In addition, China has unofficially banned coal imports from Australia since October, and dozens of bulk coal carriers have been stranded in Chinese ports waiting to clear customs, only to be prevented from disembarking.
Commentator Chen Baokong said, “The Chinese Communist Party has imposed extreme sanctions on Australia at the expense of China’s national livelihood. This proves once again that the Chinese Communist Party is not “people-oriented” as it propagates, but rather regime-oriented. The 1.4 billion Chinese people are not only the leeks it can harvest at any time, but also the sacrifices it can discard at any time.
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