China's central SOEs strive to secure power supply amid torrid summer

BEIJING -- China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been striving to secure power supply as temperatures soar in various regions nationwide, said the country's top state-asset regulator Friday.

The coal output of the central SOEs reached 560 million tonnes in the first six months, with an average output of 3.09 million tonnes per day, up 4.7 percent from a year ago, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council.

Major power generation enterprises, such as China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd., China Datang Corporation Ltd., China Huadian Corporation Ltd., and the State Power Investment Corporation Ltd., generated 2.5 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in the first six months, accounting for 62.9 percent of the country's total.

Two power grid companies, the State Grid and the China Southern Power Grid, organized more than 900 instances of cross-regional and interprovincial power transmissions.

The central SOEs produced 99.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the first half of the year, up 7.7 percent year on year, according to the SASAC.

China has experienced persistent high temperatures in many parts of the country, triggering a sharp rise in power demand. The SASAC has urged the central SOEs to do their best to secure power supply.

The commission has asked these companies to improve long-term mechanisms for power supply through measures such as increased investment and sci-tech innovation.