Eastern China’s Shandong province is likely to suffer severe power shortage this summer, the provincial grid operator said recently.

The province may see maximum power load reaching 66.8 GWs, an increase of 6.4 GWs or 10.57% year on year, and power shortfall may hit 6 GWs during peak summer hours, said Yang Minghui, deputy director of the control center of Shandong Power Grid Corp.

To ensure power supply, Shandong Power Grid Corp has begun its spring maintenance, conducting overhaul to the three trans-regional electricity transmission lines (e.g. ±660KV direct-current transmission from Yinchuan in Ningxia to Jiaodong in Shandong, etc.) and other power transmission and transformation equipment.

Meanwhile, Shandong Power Grid Corp is accelerating construction and upgrading of power grids, to ensure the commissioning of three 500 kv transformer substations, and will strictly limit power consumption of highly energy-consuming industries so as to guarantee residential power use during peak summer hours.