July 24 2008
Botswana: BCP slams govt over food and energy crisis
Speaking during the BCP fourth national congress in Bobonong on Sunday, Saleshando said the government has failed the agricultural sector and neglected to tackle the imminent energy shortage. "The BDP government has failed the agricultural sector to an extent that it has totally collapsed. The current food crisis and soaring prices are a clear indication of this failure," Saleshando said. He asserted that the government does not have an answer to the food crisis.
Chile: Chile Power Use to Stagnate for 1st Time Since '82, Tokman Says
Chile's energy consumption will stop growing for the first time in 26 years after Argentina cut natural gas supplies and a drought curbed hydroelectric power, Energy Minister Marcelo Tokman said.
Power usage this year may be the same as last year or even fall, the first time that has happened since 1982 when the economy declined 14 percent, Tokman said in an interview in Santiago. Chile imports two-thirds of its energy needs.
China: China to tighten curbs on spot coal prices at major distribution centers
Power plants are reluctant to increase coal stockpiles due to the climbing costs, contributing to widespread power shortages.
According to the China Electricity Regulatory Commission, a power shortfall is expected to reach 16,000 megawatts this summer.
India: Power crisis fuels mad diesel rush
It was the third consecutive day on Wednesday when ‘abnormal’ rush of vehicles was seen in front of the petrol bunks of the city.
Oil companies say that there is nothing like shortage of diesel but the crisis has emerged due to the excess demand. An official with an oil company preferred to call it ‘abnormal demand’. The oil companies have blamed the growing power crisis in the state for the unexpected and unprecedented demand for diesel.
India: Brace for 7-hour power cuts
Power blackouts in the state are set to get longer. Bangaloreans who are already facing four hour power cuts will have to brace for 5-7 hour load-shedding per day. It is worse for the rural areas: this would mean 12-18 hour blackouts for them.
India: Load-shedding duration soon
The government on Wednesday imposed power cuts and load-shedding across the State, while restricting the daily consumption of power to 100 million units (MU), which presently is between 115 and 120 MUs a day.
Nepal: Govt not Doing Its Bit to Address Fuel Woes - NOC
Though the country has been facing a shortage of petroleum products for almost three years, the government has not prioritised this issue, said Digamber Jha, general manager of Nepal Oil Corporation.
Pakistan: Power outages continue
Several residential localities of the city on Wednesday came under prolonged spells of power breakdowns and load-shedding causing misery to their inhabitants as the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) continued to be unable to meet the power needs of the metropolis.
Saudi Arabia: Diesel shortage worsens for farmers
Rural areas of the Kingdom are facing an increasing problem of diesel shortage which is threatening their ability to produce and irrigate crops properly.
The problem originally confined to the Taif region has now spread to Al-Jouf and Hail regions.
Saudi Arabia: Blackout hits eastern and central parts
Most companies of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. were not able to operate in the Jubail Industrial City as a result of the power cut.
A source at SEC warned of similar outages in different parts of the Kingdom “because of extreme pressure on transmission lines, big demand and shortage in supply.”
South Africa: Eskom sees higher power cut risks over plant
South Africa's state power utility Eskom, struggling to meet domestic demand, said on Thursday it saw an increased risk of power load-shedding in the next few weeks while a unit at its nuclear plant was out for repairs.
Eskom said on Tuesday it had shut down one of two electricity generating units at its Koeberg nuclear power station after a technical fault.
Vietnam: August blackouts set to worsen with electricity cuts
Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) is not yet prepared to meet electricity demand for August, despite resident complaints.
Resident electricity usage is expected to top 12,800 MW per hour between 7am and 10pm next month. However, electricity generators can only fulfil 70 per cent of the demand, according to Dang Huy Cuong, the director of the National Electricity Dispatching Centre of EVN.
