giants among us

giants among us, originally uploaded by china.sixty4.

High tension electricity "tower" in a residential neighborhood in the Xiangqiao District of Chaozhou, Guangdong province.

Demand for electricity is expected to rise by 9 to 10 percent this year with power shortages emerging in China's economically booming southern and eastern areas.

Periodic blackouts are set to continue in the coming months in south China's Guangdong Province and many other southern provinces. The strained power supply in these areas since the end of the last year is mainly due to insufficient construction of power generators and mismanagement of the supply, electricity demand in China is expected to exceed 1.8 trillion kilowatt-hours this year, 149 billion kilowatt-hours more than last year.

The political consequences of the governments mismanagement of the electricity supply and the increasing problems of pollution caused by coal burning (that generates most of the electricity in China) is being felt both at a local level and in the capital.
photo:mhobbs