Coal shortages hit China’s power plants

China’s coal shortages have left some power plants with sufficient inventories to keep them running for a day and forced others to shut down, Chinese government officials have said.

Power shortages and rationing will be more pronounced this year than in 2003 according to Xu Dingming, head of the National Development Reform Commission’s energy bureau. Shortages have already affected 27 of the country’s 32 provinces and municipalities in the first quarter this year.

China’s coal output rose 16.2% in the first four months of this year to 470 million tonnes, while power output rose 15.8% to 647 billion kilowatt-hours, according to government statistics.