Heat Wave Drives Southern China’s Power Use to Record High

Southern China is expected to experience persistent heat over the next 10 days, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104° Fahrenheit) or more in some parts

(Bloomberg) — The searing heat that has gripped China for more than a month drove power generation to a record high in southern regions, leading to outages in some places as demand for air conditioning strains the electrical grid.

China Southern Power Grid Co., the country’s second-largest operator supplying five provinces, said soaring demand lifted power generation to a record 223 gigawatts (GW) Monday, 3% higher than last year’s peak load, according to a posting on WeChat.