Record heat in China strains power grid, stirs health fears

23/7/2025 18:07

China warned on Wednesday against the risk of power supply disruptions as people struggled to keep cool in record heat baking large swathes of the country, which also spurred warnings to the elderly to guard against heat stroke.



Power supply suffers while demand surges, exceeding 1.5 billion kilowatts for the first time last week, energy officials said, in a third new record for China this month, when its first nationwide alert on heat-related health risks also went out.



"High-temperature weather will ... have an impact on power generation and supply," weather official Chen Hui told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that it would hit hydropower output and reduce the efficiency of photovoltaic generation.



Authorities will send alerts to notify electricity suppliers if tactics such as peak-shaving and cross-regional dispatching of power are called for, added Chen, an official of the China Meteorological Administration.



Since mid-March, the number of days when temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) or more is the highest on record, said Jia Xiaolong, deputy director of the National Climate Centre.