Heat wave in China. Photo: shutterstock.com
China warned on Wednesday on the risk of electricity supply interruptions, in the context in which the population tries to cool under the conditions of a record heat that affects large parts of the country, reports Reuters.
The power supply has problems as the demand increases, exceeding 1.5 billion kilowatts last week, said energy officials, this being the third new record for China this month, when the first national health risks related to heat was issued.
“The weather with high temperatures will have an impact on the production and supply of electricity,” Chen Hui said on Wednesday, officially in the field of meteorology, adding that this will affect the hydroelectric energy production and reduce the efficiency of photovoltaic energy.
Authorities will send alerts to notify electricity suppliers if measures such as reducing consumption peaks and interregional electricity distribution are required, Chen, an official of the Chinese weather administration, added.
Since mid -March, the number of days when temperatures have reached 35 degrees Celsius or more is the highest registered, said Jia Xiaolong, deputy director of the National Climate Center.
The authorities asked the elderly to remain inside, except in cases of necessity, and urged the workers who work outdoors to reduce the activity in such “days sauna”.
The temperatures have reached new maximums from mid-March in central Henan and Hubei, Shandong in the east, Sichuan in the southwest and northwestern Shaanxi and Xinjiang, pushing the national average at the second highest level.
In the last two weeks, 152 national meteorological observers recorded temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius, one of them, in Xinjiang, reaching 48.7 degrees Celsius, Jia said.
He did not exclude the possibility of record temperatures, saying that August could be as hot or even warmer than in recent years.
