China's many off-season “electricity shortages” can raise electricity prices to solve problems.

Why does the electricity off-season lack of electricity? Lin Weibin, deputy director of the Research Center for Energy and Strategic Resources at Beijing Normal University, said in an interview with the China New Energy Channel that the contradiction between supply and demand for coal is the root cause of this round of “electricity shortage.” The fundamental measure to solve the problem is to increase the price of electricity.

The contradiction between the supply and demand of electricity coal is the main cause of the "electricity shortage"

On April 15th, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a warning and early warning. The supply and demand situation in most regions this year is tight. It is expected that there will be a large gap between supply and demand in the east, north, and south of the summer peak season. However, what I did not expect was that this year's "electricity shortage" was advanced. According to media reports, as of April 25, the monthly power limit of Central China Power Grid has reached more than 20 million kilowatt hours, and Zhejiang has suffered the worst "electricity shortage" for seven years.

In response, Lin Weibin said in an interview with the China New Energy Channel that the “electricity shortage” should be analyzed in terms of both supply and demand. From the perspective of market demand, this year is the year when the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” started. The number of projects has increased, and at the same time, the projects that have slowed down due to the national energy-saving and emission reduction policy at the end of the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” have been released. This has led to an increase in the demand for electricity in the market. In addition, the growth rate of electricity in the tertiary industry and residents in the first quarter has increased. Acceleration also leads to power shortages; from the perspective of supply, the fundamental reason is the shortage of electric coal, and there is poor development of hydropower this year.

“Hunan and Hubei provinces have come late this year in the flood season. The water supply is not smooth, and the development of hydropower is not optimistic. This has brought about some pressure on the power supply.” Wang Ting and Lin Weibin’s views coincide with each other. Take Guizhou as an example. Since April, Guizhou has increased the integration of coal companies, shut down some small coal mines, and the decline in coal production, which has caused the thermal coal power companies to rush and tighten their electricity supply.

Han Xiaoping, chief information officer of China Energy Network, believes that the biggest cause of “electricity shortage” is the rising international oil price. He believes that the continuous rise in international oil prices has led to an increase in transportation costs, which has led to a straight rise in the price of electric coal. On the other hand, the continuous rise in the price of electric coal has led some power companies to generate less electricity or not generate electricity, which has aggravated the tension in electricity supply.

Electricity shortage will not become the norm

With the arrival of the summer peak season, will the "electricity shortage" spread to the whole country and become a normal condition? Lin Weibin said that the tension is inevitable, but the “electricity shortage” will not be as serious as the market expects. The country will release policies in due course to ease the status quo.

Wang Ting said that with the arrival of the peak period of electricity use, coal-fired power companies will increase their efforts to save coal, and the strong development momentum of hydropower during the later period will greatly ease the tension of power coal.

It is understood that although Shaanxi Province, the main coal-producing region, has carried out coal resource integration and mergers and reorganizations this year, its raw coal production has been affected. However, coal production in major producing areas such as Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province has maintained a rapid growth momentum. This year's total coal production Quantity is guaranteed.

Experts: Revise up the electricity price solution "electricity shortage"

Liu Tie-nan, director of the National Energy Administration, said that he must do his best to meet the peak of summer and never allow people to limit electricity consumption. The emergence of electricity shortages has also made local governments have to make decisions on power cuts for high-energy-consuming enterprises. In addition, various localities have also taken various measures to address the power shortage. Wang Ting said that Hunan has adopted measures to regulate coal and electricity, and issued special vehicle licenses for coal transportation in the province in 2011. This permits the province's coal transportation vehicles to receive vehicle tolls, thereby improving the efficiency of coal transportation; Guizhou raised the adjustment fund for coal out of the province, from the original 100 yuan per ton to 200 yuan per ton, inhibiting coal shipments.

Lin Weibin believes that the fundamental way to ease the “electricity shortage” is to adjust the energy price pricing system. The top priority is to increase the price of electricity. Han Xiaoping also said that the real solution to the problem is to let the market price, break the monopoly of the grid companies, and effectively allocate resources.