GUANGDONG Province, China’s southern industrial hub with an economy larger than Australia’s, has been curtailing as much as 15 gigawatts of power, the Economic Information Daily reported.

The province’s peak demand has reached 141 gigawatts, up 11 percent from last year and nearly equivalent to the entire installed capacity of France. Still, the curtailments in the province aren’t as heavy as they were during the summer, when as much as 21 gigawatts were shaved off.

Guangdong officials said in a notice this week they had staggered power consumption among large industrial users, and asked offices to stop using elevators for the first three floors and residents to keep their air-conditioners above 26 degrees Celsius in order to help conserve power.

China, the world’s second-biggest economy, is caught in the grips of a widening power crunch sparked by a shortage of coal supplies, toughening greenhouse gas emissions standards and strong demand from industry.

(SD-Agencies)