Heatwave Drives China's Northern Power Grids to Record Loads

BEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A heatwave pushed power demand across northern, northeastern and eastern China to record highs earlier this week, the State Grid Corporation of China said in a statement on Tuesday, as soaring temperatures boosted air-conditioning use.

Here are a few details: 

• The hot weather has driven a rapid increase in electricity demand, according to State Grid.

• Electricity loads reached record highs in the State Grid's northern, northeastern and eastern regional networks on Monday and Tuesday.

• The regions impacted include northern province Hebei and the port city of Tianjin, as well as northeastern Liaoning and eastern Shandong provinces.

• The State Grid has begun to optimise grid operations and prepare for the cross-region transmission of power to address the increased demand.

• Separately, the energy bureau of eastern Anhui province said peak power demand hit a record 69.99 million kilowatts on Tuesday, up 2.1% from a year earlier.

• The bureau said the jump in power needs was directly driven by the heatwave although the increase in computing centres and other economic activities also contributed.

• Temperatures in parts of Liaoning and mountainous areas of northeast China could approach or exceed historical extremes in the next 10 days, according to the national forecaster on Wednesday, which urged the public to take heat-protection measures.

• Guangdong became the first province in the country to exceed 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity consumption in July, Chinese media outlet Yicai said, citing Guangdong's Power Grid.

• Total electricity consumption in the province in July surpassed 100 billion kilowatt-hours, reaching 100.798 billion kilowatt-hours (100 million kWh).

(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom, Farah Master in Hong Kong; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Janane Venkatraman)