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A total of 67 coal-fired power plants in Southwest China’s Sichuan province are in full operation with 12.75 million kilowatt-hours of electricity generated on Monday, about 25% of the daily load of local power grid, in order to address a power shortage caused by extreme drought in the province, the Sichuan Daily reported on Tuesday.
Hydro power output in Sichuan, which has been hit by long-lasting heatwave and drought, has declined to 440 million kilowatt-hours, sharply lower than the normal level of 900 million kilowatt-hours. The 67 thermal power plants, which accounted for less than 16% of the overall number of power generators in the province, have been deployed to fill the gap.
Six power generators belonging to the Sichuan Guangan Power Generation Co, the largest thermal power plants in the province, have been operating at full capacity for 21 days since the start of August generating 1.183 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, up 170% from a year earlier.
The provincial capital of Chengdu’s only large thermal power plant which is operated by the Jintang Power Generation Co under the state-owned China Energy Group, generated over 27 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per day since July, double that of normal levels.
The local government has doubled the coal reserve over the last year’s volume by coordinating with coal suppliers, aiming to ensure full capacity of thermal power plants, accordig to the report.