SALES assistants used brochures as fans to bring some slight relief; shoppers walked directly to counters, grabbed what they wanted and immediately left. The hot weather drove shoppers crazy and left the shopping mall nearly empty. This was not a scene from a market in some remote area ¡ª but from one of the biggest shopping plazas in Shanghai.

Parkson, one of Shanghai¡¯s major retailers, had to cut the power to all its air conditioners as temperatures reached 39 degrees centigrade. It faced a power cut lasting more than two hours on June 28 as the city struggled to cope with the stress on its electricity grid.

Electricity crisis

Shanghai is on the brink of an electricity crisis, with the heat wave sending electricity usage soaring to new peak records.

¡°The city¡¯s electricity supply deficit will reach a new record this year, said Yan Maosong, an expert from Shanghai University, one member of China¡¯s electricity think-tank. ¡°The electricity shortage will not be relieved until 2008.¡±

The sleepless city, known for its dazzling night scenes flaring with neon, will have to take a nap during the hot summer. Tourists will find the neon lights of the bund plunged into darkness over the next 10 days.

Electricity demand in China¡¯s largest city reached a record 16.4 million kilowatts on July 4.

¡°The peak period for electricity usage has come a month earlier than last year, with the city experiencing its hottest summer in the last 60 years,¡± said Jiao Yang, spokeswoman for the Shanghai People¡¯s Municipal Government.

The peak load in Shanghai this summer will hit 19 million kilowatts, up by 12 per cent on last year, according to authorities.

¡°The peak load may even be underestimated,¡± said Yan. ¡°The increase may be larger this summer as the gap between demand and supply widens.¡±

Although two new power generation plants have been completed since last year, raising capacity by 1.32 million kilowatts, there is still a huge deficit, with the temperatures hovering around 39 degrees centigrade.

¡°The city¡¯s generating units are running at full-tilt, as are the grids,¡± said Jiao. ¡°The city has bought an extra 4.83 million kilowatts from outside and excessive loads have been managed.¡±

Methods taken

Shanghai government and power supply companies are being challenged by the combination of consecutive hot days and their limited power supply.

¡°Shopping malls will face more temporary power cuts in rotation,¡± said Jiao.

Local manufacturers have also been ordered to halt production in rotation this summer and to rely on their own power generators.

Foreign-venture manufacturers will still enjoy a more favourable policy. ¡°We will try to guarantee the electricity to foreign-ventures,¡± said Jiao.

With air-conditioners accounting for over 40 per cent of power usage, authorities have asked office buildings, malls, offices, hotels and entertainment sites to set their air-conditioning dials no lower than 26 degrees centigrade.

Shopping malls are advised to run all their air conditioners in the morning and halt half of them in the afternoon when the peak period arrives.

However, the record hot weather is driving still more people to purchase air conditioners. Last weekend the sale of air conditioners was up by 80 per cent on the same period last year.

To cut demand, the government has raised the summer price of electricity, by 0.035 yuan per kw/h. Residential and agricultural users will be excepted from the new pricing system.

¡°The new pricing system is expected to cut the power demand of some companies with relatively low electricity-efficiency,¡± said an official from Shanghai Electricity Company.

However, even if the pricing system is effective it is not a welcome policy,¡¯¡¯ said Wang Hu, an expert from the Shanghai Academy of Social Science. ¡°A better solution to the problem is to raise generating capacity.¡±

¡°Shanghai is working on a plan to add 8 million kilowatts of capacity by 2010,¡± said Jiao. ¡°The power supply will have doubled from 2003.¡±

However, experts worry the new power projects will further worsen the air quality in Shanghai, as most of the power plants will use coal as the main fuel source.

¡°It is a dilemma. While we have to build more power plants, the coal-powered plants are big pollution sources and ultimately contribute to making the summers even hotter,¡± said Yan. ¡°Such drawbacks will dwarf their contribution to the power supply.¡±

Alternative resources

The government is considering using solar energy and wind to produce more electricity.

Four generating units were completed in Fengxian County in 2003, producing 6.1 million kilowatts. The 20 million kilowatt units are expected to be put into operation in mid-July.

A generating system using solar energy is being built in Fengxian County and the Xinjiangwan area.

Electricity companies began to sell this ¡°green electricity¡± from July 1. The local electricity usage giants such as Baosteel, Shanghai Tobacco Group and some government offices have confirmed their intention to buy green electricity.

¡°Although green electricity costs much more, users may be given favourable treatment,¡± said an anonymous official from the local government.

¡°Green electricity cannot do much to narrow the gap,¡± said Yan Maosong. ¡°It makes up less than one per cent of the whole electricity supply now.¡±

Another alternative is natural gas. Shanghai plans to build a power plant using natural gas with 30 kilowatt capacity.

However, the high and rising price of natural gas makes the future of this relatively clean fuel uncertain.

¡°The day when the power supply meets demand is the first day of oversupply,¡± said Yan Mao Song. ¡°The ultimate solution to electricity shortage lies in alternatives to the present industrial structure of Shanghai.¡± said Wang. ¡°The increase in electricity usage exceeds GDP growth. Growth is unhealthily concentrated in heavy consumers of resources such as electricity.¡±

¡°An energy-efficient and high-tech industrial structure is a solution to the electricity shortage,¡± Yan concurs. ¡°But it will take a long time to get there, so electricity stress will not be relieved any time soon.¡±