Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
China's winter chills clean energy transition as
factories fire up
Reuters Wed., December 23, 2020, 8:49 p.m. PST
By Muyu Xu, Stella Qiu and Emily Chow
BEIJING/YIWU, China (Reuters) - China's harsh winter and stunning manufacturing recovery this year have pushed up electricity demand across the country's industrial belt, complicating Beijing's drive to cut businesses' power usage and their reliance on polluting coal-fired energy.
The surge in demand also comes as the cold hampers the ability of renewable energy to fill the gap left by a severe coal shortage, raising doubts about the reliability of cleaner sources to power the world's second-largest economy during critical periods.
In Zhejiang province, an economic powerhouse in eastern China, cities including Wenzhou and Yiwu told factories to scale back production and government departments were told not to turn on heat unless temperatures fall below 3 Celsius.
"We're already running late in fulfilling our orders and now the government wants us to shut down for one day every three days. This is not helping at all," said a factory owner in Yiwu, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Meanwhile, the southern provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi also imposed curbs on factory and residential power usage.
Across China, November power consumption rose 9% from a year earlier, with industrial demand up 10%, fuelled by a resurgent economy and a 21% increase in exports to meet COVID-driven demand for electronics, protective gear and other goods.
Coal supplies, meanwhile, are tight despite record domestic output in November as a runaway economic recovery sucks up power.
The municipality of Jinhua, which includes Yiwu, missed its energy efficiency targets during the first three quarters of this year and all of last year, according to its statistics bureau, and the rationing is part of efforts to meet targets.
At the Heart of Yiwu Mall, lights, escalators and heating were shut off, store employees said. While the lights and escalators were restarted this week, the heat was not, forcing shop staff to rug up in winter coats.
The restrictions came into force on Dec. 13, and two Yiwu factory owners said they were told it would last until the end of the year.
To address localised power shortages, Beijing has urged coal miners to ramp up output and energy firms to diversify gas sources. It has also allowed customs to clear imported coal that had built up at ports during the summer due to unofficial import quotas aimed at supporting local producers.
While Australian coal has reportedly been excluded from customs clearances, it accounts for less than 3% of China's total thermal coal usage.
Daily coal use at major coal-fired plants in eight coastal provinces in eastern China was up 20% annually last week, according to China-based CCTD consultancy.
Coal inventories at those utilities were at 87% of 2019 levels, less than 15 days' worth of consumption. China's general coal inventory at major power plants in coastal regions could support consumption for 23 days, state TV reported this week.
KING COAL
Coal still dominates Chinese power generation, accounting for nearly 60% of supply.
Despite long-time efforts to switch to cleaner energy, China's power grid remains largely reliant on coal, to meet base-load demand, especially during the cold season when there is less hydropower and power supplies typically tighten.
"With the more ambitious renewables push, China will find its grid system facing bigger challenges to ensure firm capacity during peak times," said Lara Dong, senior power director at IHS Markit in Beijing.
In the southern provinces of Jiangxi and Hunan, which rely heavily on hydro and renewables, demand this season overwhelmed supply, with coal plants unable to fill the gap after local miners were shut due to environmental and safety reasons and national curbs on output earlier this year, crimping supply.
In Hunan, wind turbines were frozen by an early cold snap this month that brought ice and snow.
China aims to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25% by 2030, up from 15.3% in 2019, and aspires to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.
In August, Beijing rolled out a draft plan to encourage power producers to add storage facilities and better integrate their use of coal and other sources to ensure stability and flexibility of the grid.
Translation
北京/義烏（路透社）- 今年中國嚴酷的冬季和驚人的製造業復甦推動了該國整個工業帶的電力需求，使北京減少企業用電量和對污染燃煤能源的依賴變得更加複雜。
需求激增的同時間，嚴寒亦阻礙了可再生能源填補嚴重煤炭短缺所留下的缺口的能力，使人們清潔能源對在關鍵時期為世界第二大經濟體提供動力的的可靠性產生懷疑。
在中國東部的經濟重鎮浙江，溫州和義烏等城市都要求工廠縮減生產規模，政府部門被告知除非溫度降至攝氏3度以下，否則不要開啓暖氣。
義烏的一家工廠老闆, 由於事情的敏感性而拒絕透露姓名之下說：“我們在履行訂單方面已經很晚了，現在政府希望我們每三天關閉一天。這對事情完全沒有幫助”。
同時，南部省份湖南和江西也限制了工廠和居民用電。
在整個中國，十一月的電力消耗同比增長了9％，工業需求增長了10％，這是得益於經濟復甦以及出口增長21％以滿足COVID驅動的電子產品，防護裝備和其他商品的需求。
與此同時，儘管11月國內產量創紀錄，但煤炭供應仍然緊張，原因是失控的經濟復甦佔用了電力。
據統計局稱，包括義烏在內的金華市在今年前三個季度和去年全年都未能實現能源效率目標，而配給是實現目標的一部分嘗試。
商店員工說，在義烏購物中心，燈，自動扶梯和暖氣被關掉。雖然本週重新啟動了電燈和自動扶梯，但暖氣卻沒有重啟，這迫使商店的工作人員不得不穿上冬季外套。
這項限制措施於12月13日生效，義烏的兩名工廠老闆表示，他們被告知這將持續到今年年底。
為了解決局部電力短缺的問題，北京已敦促煤礦工人提高產量，並要求能源公司擴大天然氣來源。由於旨在支持當地生產者非官方的進口配額的煤，夏季在港口積了, 海關允許他們清關。
儘管澳大利亞煤炭已被排除在海關清關之外，但它僅佔中國動力煤使用總量的不到3％。
根據中國CCTD諮詢公司的數據，上週中國東部八個沿海省份的主要燃煤電廠的每日煤炭使用量每年增長20％。
這些公用事業公司的煤炭庫存量為2019年水平的87％，是不到15天的消耗量。國家電視台本週報導，中國沿海地區主要發電廠的一般煤炭庫存可能會支持23天的消費。
煤國王
煤炭仍然佔據著中國發電的主導地位，佔供應的近60％。
儘管長期努力轉向使用清潔能源，但中國的電網仍主要依靠煤炭來滿足基本負荷需求，尤其是在水力發電量較少而且輸送緊拙的寒冷季節。
IHS Markit北京高級電力總監Lara Dong表示： “隨著雄心勃勃推動可再生能源的，中國將發現其電網系統面臨更大的挑戰，以確保高峰時段的穩定容量。”
在江南和湖南這兩個主要依賴水力和可再生能源的省份，本季度需求供不應求。由於環境和安全原因當地礦工被叫停, 以及今年早些時候的全國產量限制，燃煤電廠無法填補缺口, 供應被壓縮。
在湖南，風力渦輪機因本月初帶來冰雪的寒冷天氣而結冰。
中國的目標是到2030年將非化石燃料在基本的能源消費中的比例從2019年的15.3％提高到25％左右，並力爭到2060年實現中性碳排放。
8月，北京推出了一項計劃草案，以鼓勵電力生產商增加儲能設施，並更好地整合煤炭和其他能源的使用，以確保電網的穩定性和靈活性。
So, it is good news that
China’s factory production has resumed normal, as reflected in its increased demand
on electricity. Yet on the other hand, this incident shows that tight electricity
supply could become a weak spot in China’s manufacturing industries due to its effort to increase the share of non-fossil fuels and
decrease coal consumption in electricity production.
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