Peak load on the local grid system is expected to increase 10.9 percent from a year earlier to 58 gigawatts (GW), the provincial government said in a report posted to its website (www.jiangsu.gov.cn) on Tuesday.

Signs of tight coal supplies and rising coal prices have emerged even during the current slow season for coal consumption, and coal supplies could become even tighter, the report said.

The expected power shortages could total about 4 GW during peak demand in summer as actual available supplies would amount to only 54 GW, local newspaper Xinhua Daily reported on Tuesday, citing a forecast made at a government meeting.

"Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces all will face power shortages this year; the power market covered by the eastern China grid will be in a fragile balance, and there will be a limited power surplus for inter-provincial transmission," Chen Zhenyu, head of Jiangsu Economic and Information Technology Commission, was quoted as saying.

A rapid increase in power demand due to the economic recovery was the main cause, uncertainty in supplies and ensuring power supplies to the Shanghai Expo also pose challenges, according to Gu Yufang, deputy head of the commission.

The eastern China grid covers Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian provinces plus Shanghai. The Expo will last until late October.

Coal burning power plants generate about three-quarters of China's power, but the world's biggest coal producer and consumer has suffered frequent power shortages in past years in part due to rigid power price regulation.

Sourced from www.alibaba.com