Heavy Rains Promise Ample Hydropower in a New Blow to Coal in China

(Bloomberg) — Heavy rainfall sweeping across southern China is swelling reservoirs and promising ample hydropower generation that will further suppress coal demand already weakened by pandemic restrictions. 

Local authorities have issued flood warnings and the country’s meteorological center expects as much as 20 centimeters (8 inches) of precipitation to fall in parts of South China between Tuesday and Sunday, including in the industrial redoubt of Guangdong, with some individual weather stations seeing record totals of 50 centimeters. Yangtze River levels were about 74 centimeters higher in April than historical norms, and the Three Gorges Dam reservoir rose to within a meter of the record set in August 2020.