Factories in China’s Sichuan Turn Off for Six Days to Conserve Power Amid Heat Wave, Drought
23:19 GMT 17.08.2022 (Updated: 14:11 GMT 14.02.2023)
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While some parts of China have been soaked by rains that triggered destructive flooding, other parts have been parched, leading to water management procedures and brownouts in regions like Sichuan and Chongqing, which rely heavily on hydroelectric power.
A devastating heat wave has baked southwestern China in its worst heat wave in nearly 60 years. According to China’s National Climate Center, the heat wave has lasted for 64 days as of Wednesday, and 262 of its weather stations have climbed above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
In the central Yangtze valley regions like Hubei Province, aircraft have been loaded with special silver iodide rods to “seed” the clouds for rain; however, with so few in the skies, the mission is on standby.
In Sichuan, reservoirs are running low, affecting hydroelectric power plants that keep the region running. To compensate, authorities have ordered all factories to shut down for six days so power can be diverted to residential and commercial uses; however, residents are also being asked not to turn down the temperatures on their air conditioners below 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 Fahrenheit) and to use stairs instead of elevators in order to further conserve power.
Similar orders have gone out in Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces.
"Some main reservoirs in Sichuan have dried up. The power generation capacity declines while the gap between supply and demand increases," Zhou Jian, an engineer with the Sichuan branch of the State Grid, told Xinhua News Agency.
16 August 2022, 17:23 GMT
In Chongqing, a megacity region sandwiched between Sichuan and Hubei, only half the expected rainfall has fallen this year and 600,000 people are experiencing water shortages and crops are being watered with fire trucks.
“August and September are critical periods for the formation of autumn grain production, so close attention should be paid to the impact of natural disasters and pests on grain production,” Fu Linghui, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, told the South China Morning Post.
With crop yields threatened, Vice Premier Hu Chunhua said on Tuesday that Beijing would “make all-out efforts in its disaster relief work” to ensure the fall harvest met the goal of 650 billion kilograms of grain. In addition, the Finance Ministry has set aside 300 million yuan ($44.3 million) for disaster relief associated with the drought.
However, nearby regions like Hunan and Jiangxi have seen flooding in recent months driven by heavy rains. Downpours in June displaced a quarter of a million people and killed 10 while destroying thousands of structures. Some parts of Sichuan have also seen flash flooding caused by rain in recent weeks.
A recent study by climate scientists at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in the United States found that US pollution has caused nearly $2 trillion in damage to the global economy due to its role in driving man-made climate change. By increasing the global temperature with heat-trapping gas emissions, industrialization has triggered changes in weather patterns like those seen across China, causing droughts in some places and deluges in others.
