China’s economy is being hampered by driest riverbeds since 1865
An extreme summer has taken a toll on Asia’s longest river, which flows about 6,300km through China and feeds farms that provide much of the country’s food and massive hydroelectric stations, including the Three Gorges Dam; the world’s biggest power plant.
A year ago, water lapped almost as high as the riverbank where Wan swims. Now, the level is at the lowest for this time of year since records began in 1865, exposing swathes of sand, rock and oozing brown mud that reeks of rotting fish.
Yangtze’s retreating water levels have snarled electricity generation at many key hydropower plants, sparking energy chaos across many parts of the country.
Mega cities including Shanghai are turning off lights, escalators and cutting back on air conditioning. Tesla has warned of disruptions in the supply chain for its Shanghai plant, and others such as Toyota and Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s top maker of batteries for electric vehicles, have shuttered factories.
Though the energy crunch is far less severe than in 2021, when a coal shortage led to nationwide power cuts, it’s adding to challenges authorities are facing in reviving an economy already battered by frequent Covid-19 lockdowns and a property crisis.
And the timing comes months before President Xi Jinping is set to seek an unprecedented third term. China’s top officials, including Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, had earlier vowed to prevent such repeats.
The southwestern province of Sichuan, enduring the region’s worst drought since the 1960s, is by far the hardest hit given its high dependence on hydropower. While dam generation plunged by half in the region, a grueling heatwave has sent electricity demand surging by about a quarter.
That’s added pressure on an energy network that serves a population about the size of Germany and supplies to industrial hubs that are home to factories of suppliers to Tesla.
China’s biggest power crunch since last fall has led to suspension of power supply to many industrial customers through Aug 25. Companies including Toyota and CATL have already closed plants in the region for several days. Top polysilicon maker Tongwei said its plant has been affected, further tightening the market for the material key to building solar panels.
Some of the impact was felt in places outside Sichuan as well. The Bund waterfront in Shanghai turned off outdoor lighting, and Wuhan in central Hubei province halted its famous Yangtze river light show.
The current situation is expected to be less painful than last year as the strictest measures have largely been limited to Sichuan, which comprises just 5 percent of the country’s GDP.
Still, it could pose a risk to the sputtering US$18 trillion economy. Economists are already downgrading the nation’s growth outlook for this year to less than 4 percent, well below the government’s 5.5 percent target.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES