July 16 2008

Afghanistan: Residents of Afghan Capital Complain of Power Shortage

Residents of the capital say the Energy and Water Ministry has not properly spent the international aid on projects to generate electricity.

The Energy and Water Ministry, meanwhile, says drought and water shortage is one of the main factors behind the low levels of electricity supply in Kabul city.

Argentina: Temen que se agrave en la Región la escasez de naftas

Since some service stations reported yesterday that they experienced a deepened reduction in deliveries and that exacerbates the shortage of products, mainly on weekends; "this month sales quotas were reduced by 15 percent to what we were provided during the same month last year, "said Roberto Vitale, owner of two YPF service stations located in the downtown area.

China: China on brink of electricity shortfall

China faces its worst power shortage in at least four years as soaring coal prices and government-set electricity tariffs force dozens of small power plants to shut down rather than face mounting losses.

Nearly half of China’s provinces have started to ration electricity as the country enters the peak summer season, facing what analysts describe as its worst coal shortage.

India: Mumbai wakes up to severe power crisis

Thousands of Mumbai residents woke up to a dark morning yesterday, as the state government-owned power utility imposed severe power cuts, following an acute shortage.

The Maharashtra government has warned citizens of continuing power and water shortage over the coming days, as the south-west monsoon - which started off with a bang in early June - has failed to intensify.

India: Diesel shortage hits city

Even as the city's denizens are reeling under a power shortage, in a strange combination of disparate factors, the city was hit by severe diesel shortage on Tuesday.

Several petrol bunks of Bharat Petroleum ran out of diesel stock in the morning. As motorists had to go round the city to fill diesel, even petrol bunks of Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum put up no stock boards at some places as they too ran out of stock.

India: Dip in generation leads to power cuts in state

Extensive power cuts were imposed in the state on Tuesday as generation dipped to 1800 mw following the closure of many units.

The demand which touched 8,000 mw in the wake of the sultry weather coupled with a shortfall of around 1,000 mw on account of the closure of many units resulted in practically all the districts facing outages over and above the stipulated hours of roistering. These outages varied from 10-15 hours.

India: One-hour power cuts in suburbs from today

Load-shedding will be reintroduced in Pune from Wednesday. Owing to the delay in the monsoon and reduction in generation of power from the Dabhol power pant, there is no alternative but to re-introduce load shedding in Pune for an hour’s duration, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) chief engineer (Pune division) R B Gautam said today. The city had been spared of load-shedding since June 6, 2006. However, according to Gautam, despite all the measures taken to ensure power for the citizens, there is a shortfall of 33 MW. The shortfall in Pune has increased from 160 to 225 MW.

India: Power cuts will return to haunt Mumbai

Be prepared to sweat this monsoon as the state power utility has decided to impose an additional hour of loadshedding across the state, including Pune, and almost four hours for consumers from Thane, Mulund, Bhandup and Navi Mumbai. The new schedule will be implemented from 7am on Wednesday.

The revised schedule for the power cuts was finalised on Tuesday, a day before the monsoon session of Legislative Assembly begins.

India: Loadshedding inevitable: Minister

Minister for Energy K S Eshwarappa said here on Monday that loadshedding had become inevitable in view of the continued dry spell in the State indicating that a decision on it would be taken in a week.

He told presspersons that there had been a mismatch in the demand and supply of power owing to the continued dry spell. This had resulted in the depletion of water in the reservoirs of major hydel projects.

Indonesia: Blackouts avoidable if load drops: PLN

State electricity firm PT PLN canceled rotating blackouts planned for Jakarta and Tangerang on Monday and Tuesday, but urged the service industry to lower consumption to guarantee there would be no blackouts in the coming days.

Nepal: LPG supply runs dry

The Kathmandu Valley is facing severe shortage of cooking gas, as there had been no import of LPG from Barauni refinery for the last 12 days.
Sanwar Mal Agrawal, president of the LPG Industries’ Association, said 500 metric tonnes of LPG had been loaded in Mathura station and was ready for delivery to Nepal. But that’s just a trickle compared to the average monthly demand of 10,500 metric tonnes.

Pakistan: PCA calls for lesser power cuts

The menace of loadshedding has not only affected business activities but has also created huge problems for students, especially those who use computer frequently, with IT experts and professionals facing the same inconvenience.

Despite the assurance of officials about the loadshedding time to be decreased gradually, power cuts continue as previously, which is hampering the efficiency of the computer industry and destroying the future of students.

Pakistan: Shortage crosses 500 MW for second sucessive day

Due to drastic cut in power generation from the Bin Qasim Thermal Power Station (BQTPS) of KESC, the inhabitants of the megapolis suffered another day of multiple and prolonged spells of power breakdowns on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Karachi Electric Supply Company, however, expressed hope that the generation unit no.6 of the Bin Qasim plant, which tripped on Monday due to leakage in its boiler, would be come back online to supply power to the KESC system by Tuesday night.

Pakistan: Loadshedding exasperates IT sector, students

The menace of load shedding has not only affected business activities, but has also created huge problems for the students, especially those who have to use computers frequently.

IT experts and professionals are facing the same messy situation and despite assurance from officials that the time of power cuts would be brought down gradually, power outages continue, which is badly hampering the computer industry and destroying the future of students. This concern was expressed here by the officials of Pakistan Computer Association during a special meeting, chaired by Munawar Iqbal, President of the PCA, stated a press release.

Paraguay: Sigue la aguda escasez de gasoil

The diesel that arrived last Monday will not be enough to supply demand, and the lack of fuel creates a climate of widespread concern not only in carriers and stations, but throughout the population, because now the cars are running out fuel, and where there is diesel, service stations are rationing the supply.

Paraguay: La escasez de combustible ya pasó a ser problema nacional

The shortage of diesel reached critical levels and it hurts the economy. The government of Nicanor Duarte Frutos prefers to close its eyes. That is their policy.