In recent years Zuo Ding-shan has been protesting against the government purchasing electricity from the mainland. On Nov. 19, this column commented, “the government wants to buy nuclear power from the mainland” is impossible. Previous government poll has already shown that most Hongkongers are against buying electricity from the mainland. But the government would not give up on this idea and attempted to create public opinion through academics and change people’s minds. However, there is one thing that even Wong Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment and the academics appointed by him and the government cannot convince people is the stability of electricity supply in the mainland. When there is an electricity cut in the mainland suddenly, disaster would also be spread to Hong Kong if it buys electricity from the mainland.

Many areas in the mainland have been experiencing power cuts or limited supply lately. Provinces such as Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang have started to implement the so-called “orderly use of electricity” or “limiting the use of electricity notice” last week. The acting governor of Hunan province has requested the State Grid Central China branch to ensure a stable electricity supply of the province. Why? Zhao Chenxin, Deputy Secretary-General of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said, “due to the recent rapid growth of industrial production, in addition to the low temperature and cold current, the need for electricity has also greatly increased and is over our estimation. The electricity consumption of Hunan and Jiangxi is one of the highest in the country. I have already instructed coal production areas such as Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia to increase production, enhance the transportation capacity of thermal coal to ensure the electricity supply.”

What Zhao said was not about how to maintain the long-term stability of the country’s electricity supply, but only to fix individual problems whenever they occur. China, especially in the north, is cold every year. Moreover, the mainland media has been boasting about how the Chinese economy has revived and is the world’s number one. Has the NDRC not known about it and the need for electricity would go up?

When the Hong Kong economy was at its peak and the weather at its hottest, the electricity supply was still sufficient. Hong Kong has never had to implement measures like “orderly use of electricity” or “limit the use of electricity” because China Light & Power (CLP) Company Syndicate and Hong Kong Electric Company always made accurate calculations and good preparations. But the power supply in the mainland is planned and controlled by the government senior officials and has political considerations, which cause big troubles now and again.

The media has wide coverage on the power cut in Guangzhou at midnight on Dec. 21; there was also rumor that cities like Dongguan, Foshan, Shenzhen, Huizhou, Zhuhai had a partial power cut. Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau responded to the rumor saying, the power outage was caused by equipment failure and had nothing to do with restricting the use of electricity. Would you believe that?

Foreign media has earlier reported that 50 Australian coal transporting ships are outside Chinese harbor unable to unload, apparently because of the punishment China has on Australia. While the Australian coal is not allowed to be imported into China, the Chinese authority ordered Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia to increase coal production. Obviously, the CCP is willing to let the Chinese coastal cities suffer from power outages purely for political reasons. Besides, Xi Jinping declared China would be carbon neutral before 2060. The whole nation has to work on lowering carbon emissions and develop non-fossil energy. Fundamentally, based on China’s current economic development, its climate policy conflicts with people’s electricity use. But to ensure Xi’s policy direction, power outage and limiting use of electricity in China would be the norm!

(Zuo Ding-shan, columnist)

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