Latest news with #power supply
News24
9 hours ago
- Climate
- News24
Record heat in China strains power grid, stirs health fears
China warned on Wednesday against the risk of power supply disruptions as people struggled to keep cool in record heat baking large swathes of the country, which also spurred warnings to the elderly to guard against heat stroke. Power demand exceeded 1.5 billion kilowatts for the first time last week, energy officials said, the third successive record for China this month, when its first nationwide alert on heat-related health risks also went out. "High-temperature weather will ... have an impact on power generation and supply," weather official Chen Hui told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that it would hit hydropower output and reduce the efficiency of photovoltaic generation. Authorities will send alerts to notify electricity suppliers if measures such as peak shaving and cross-regional dispatching of power are called for, added Chen, an official of the China Meteorological Administration. Over the weekend, China announced that construction had begun on what will be the world's largest hydropower dam in Tibet, at an estimated cost of at least $170 billion, cheering investors but vexing downstream neighbours India and Bangladesh. The project is expected to produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equal to the amount of electricity consumed by Britain last year, as Beijing seeks to meet the country's growing power demand. Since mid-March, the number of days when temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius or more is the highest on record, said Jia Xiaolong, deputy director of the National Climate Centre. Authorities asked the elderly to stay indoors unless necessary, while urging outdoor workers to scale down activity on such "sauna days". Temperatures have hit new highs since mid-March in the central provinces of Henan and Hubei, Shandong in the east, Sichuan in the southwest, and northwestern Shaanxi and Xinjiang, pushing the national average to the second highest on record. During the last two weeks, above 40°C heat enveloped 407 000 square kilometres of the country, Jia said. That is more than the land area of Germany or Japan. In the same period, roughly one in 10 national weather observatories tracked temperatures above 40°C with one in Xinjiang reaching 48.7°C. Jia did not rule out the chance of more record-breaking heat, saying August could prove as warm as, or even hotter than, in recent years.
Reuters
15 hours ago
- Climate
- Reuters
Record heat in China strains power grid, stirs health fears
BEIJING, July 23 (Reuters) - China warned on Wednesday against the risk of power supply disruptions as people struggled to keep cool in record heat baking large swathes of the country, which also spurred warnings to the elderly to guard against heat stroke. Power supply suffers while demand surges, exceeding 1.5 billion kilowatts for the first time last week, energy officials said, in a third new record for China this month, when its first nationwide alert on heat-related health risks also went out. "High-temperature weather will ... have an impact on power generation and supply," weather official Chen Hui told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that it would hit hydropower output and reduce the efficiency of photovoltaic generation. Authorities will send alerts to notify electricity suppliers if tactics such as peak-shaving and cross-regional dispatching of power are called for, added Chen, an official of the China Meteorological Administration. Since mid-March, the number of days when temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) or more is the highest on record, said Jia Xiaolong, deputy director of the National Climate Centre. Authorities asked the elderly to stay indoors unless necessary, while urging outdoor workers to scale down activity on such "sauna days". Temperatures have hit new highs since mid-March in the central provinces of Henan and Hubei, Shandong in the east, Sichuan in the southwest, and northwestern Shaanxi and Xinjiang, pushing the national average to the second highest on record. During the last two weeks, 152 national weather observatories tracked temperatures above 40 degrees C (104 F) with one in Xinjiang reaching 48.7 degrees C (119.7 F), Jia said. He did not rule out the chance of more record-breaking heat, saying August could prove as warm as, or even hotter than, in recent years.
Zawya
6 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Ghana achieves stable power supply, eyes green future after major energy reforms
Ghanaians are now enjoying a stable and dependable power supply, thanks to significant ongoing reforms in the energy sector, Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Abdulai Jinapor, has announced. Taking his turn at the Government #AccountabilitySeries, John Jinapor stated that there has been a significant turnaround from the 'persistent and erratic power outages' experienced earlier this year. 'We have witnessed a remarkable improvement and reliable supply of power,' he stated, attributing this success to comprehensive reforms addressing both technical inefficiencies and financial challenges within the sector. 'You can attest to the fact that we are now experiencing a reliable, uninterruptible supply of power,' he emphasised, a demonstration of the visible impact of the government's interventions. Looking ahead, Mr Jinapor unveiled plans for a five-year strategic document aimed at accelerating Ghana's renewable energy and green transition agenda. This crucial blueprint will guide future policy reforms, ensuring a sustainable and environmentally friendly energy future for the nation. The Ministry's initiatives reflect the government's unwavering commitment to ensuring a robust, sustainable, and reliable energy sector for all Ghanaians. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.
Bloomberg
14-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
China's Efforts to Ensure Summer Power Supply Get an Assist from Air-Con Trade-Ins
China's efforts to ensure power supply through punishing summer heat are getting a boost from a government trade-in program that's allowed millions of households to upgrade to more efficient air-conditioners, according to a new report. The combined impact of the swaps could be enough to shave off 4.1% of residential electricity demand this summer, according to research published on Tuesday by climate think tank Ember. That's enough electricity saved to power Iceland for an entire year. The initiative, which started last year and will continue at least through December, offers rebates to exchange older cooling units, other household appliances, and even vehicles for newer ones that are more energy efficient.
ABC News
21-05-2025
- ABC News
Sydney's train pain was a domino effect of things going wrong
The first sign of trouble came just before 4pm on Tuesday. "Major disruptions to trains between Central and Strathfield due to power supply issues," the alert from the Transport for NSW said. For Sydney commuters, the words "major disruptions" are all too familiar. Peak hour for passengers on the North Shore and Western Line, Inner West and Leppington Line, Liverpool and Inner West Line, Airport and South Line, Northern Line, Central Coast and Newcastle Line and Blue Mountains Line were all affected, Transport for NSW said. In other words, all trains going to the west and north of the city were out of action, but it quickly became apparent that pretty much all lines were affected. Within half an hour, the city's rail network had all but ground to a halt, as thousands of commuters crowded onto train platforms and footpaths overflowed as others piled onto the bus network in a bid to get home. The timing, just as the afternoon peak was kicking off, could not have been worse. Neither could the location of the trouble. At 2:30pm, the power connection device on a train at Strathfield Station had collided with overhead wires, bringing down a 1,500-volt electrical cable on the train roof. The device is called a pantograph and it is the triangular-shaped apparatus that sticks up on the roof of the train, connecting the train's electrical system to the power running in the lines overhead. It was the pantograph that got twisted in the overhead wire, bringing some of it down onto the train roof. Response teams then began to remove 300 passengers from the train, along with passengers on two other trains where the power had also been switched off, Transport for NSW coordinator-general Howard Collins told the media at 4:30pm. "The main west line in the Homebush area is completely closed down; the alternatives are very limited. I'd ask customers and passengers to be aware if you're not travelling, please do not do so on the rail network," he said. Six rail tracks pass through Strathfield, which University of Sydney transport expert John Nelson said made it a "very, very vulnerable" point. "When you have these maximum train movements and the largest number of people wanting to move, it's a classic example of a key bottleneck experiencing system failure." Chief executive of Sydney Trains Matt Longland on Wednesday said power to all six of the tracks between Strathfield and Homebush had to be isolated. Professor Nelson said the only way to alleviate a failure at a critical junction in a historical network like Sydney Trains was to have central interchanges to other transport modes. "That's why it was useful last night that the transport authorities were able to say, you know, if you're going to the North Shore, use the Metro," he said. Sydney's Metro lines are not connected to the rail lines and were unaffected by the shutdown, but only the city, north shore and inner south-west have Metro lines. Mathew Hounsell, a transport researcher at UTS, said communication with the public about the outage was poor. "They did not do that properly yesterday. The communication was not clear that the system was completely borked and we entered the station not knowing that," he said. Professor Nelson agreed the public needed information on journey planning. "Unfortunately, we're still not there because you could pick anybody's journey planner — you might have tried this yourself. It's still suggesting journeys that were never going to happen," he said. Commuter Nicholas Turvey said he arrived at Parramatta Station and was not able to get near the ticket booths because of the crowds. He was told by train conductors to find another mode of transport. "But Ubers were surging with expensive prices, and the buses were delayed as well and they were looking like an hour and a half on the buses to get home," he said, with his sister coming to drive him home. By 7pm, Transport for NSW was advising people not to travel on six of the Sydney train lines, with warnings of delays for the rest of the evening. At 7:15pm, Sanju Abraham was waiting with more than 100 people at Ashfield Station for replacement buses to Lidcombe. "We are waiting for almost one hour, and just one bus came," he said. By 5:30am on Wednesday morning, workers were finishing the final inspections on the defective train and repairing the overhead wires before the power could be switched back on. Passengers were told to avoid the train network and use alternative modes of transport, with most lines running trains at much reduced frequencies. The power was switched back on at 7:20am, but the dye had been cast: The network would struggle for the day with minimal services and customers facing empty departure boards and little to access information. Mr Longland told 702 ABC Radio Sydney that it was tricky to get info coded into the apps or onto station screens at the moment. Premier Chris Minns has announced commuters would travel for free on Monday after the chaos that has plagued the Sydney rail network overnight and conceded something many commuters already knew — the network was "nowhere near good enough". "In no way is that going to make up for the disruption of the last 24 hours, but hopefully it can go some way to alleviate the financial burden that families have had to deal with over the last day," Mr Minns said on Nine Radio. Mr Minns said he would commission an independent "outside", "short and sharp" review of Sydney's transport system. It would cover three areas — looking at the money already spent on maintenance and whether it was working as intended, punctuality on the network and communications from transport authorities.
