China quietly suffers power supply shock as Evergrande crisis takes center stage | Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Widespread cuts to traffic lights in cities across northern China recently wreaked havoc during rush hours as power shocks spread from factories to the country’s wider infrastructure .

A notice of the power outages was sent to households in many northern cities on Thursday (September 23). Since temperatures are low in these areas at this time of year, the power outages have aroused public anger, according to the Liberty Times.

Meanwhile, in southern Guangdong province, local authorities issued a notice on Sunday (Sept. 16) calling on all members of society to do their part to stop the spread of power outages, according to a Bloomberg report.

Analysts say this reflects an escalation of the energy crisis, as Chinese authorities generally do not ask household consumers to reduce their consumption unless factory use limits have not corrected the shortage.

Nearly half of China’s 23 provinces failed to meet energy intensity targets this year, leading the central government to put more pressure on them to cut off electricity, according to reports.

“With the market’s attention now focused on Evergrande and Beijing’s unprecedented restrictions on the real estate sector, another major supply-side shock may have been underestimated or even missed,” Lu Ting said. (盧 婷), analyst at Nomura Holdings. As a result, Lu predicts that the Chinese economy will contract this quarter.