electricity shortfall

Bolivia: El Gobierno y la CAO se reunirán para tratar la escasez de diesel

The Minister of Rural Development, Agriculture and Environment, Carlos Romero, and representatives of the Eastern Agricultural Chamber (CAO) will meet tomorrow in the city of Santa Cruz to address the shortage of diesel and other topics related to agricultural activity.

Dominican Republic: Dominican energy chief expects crisis to end by next week

State-owned power companies (CDEEE) executive vice president Radhamés Segura yesterday said he expects the energy crisis affecting the country will end next week, with the possible entry into operation of the AES Andres power plant, taken off line for repairs.

Guyana: Guyana geared for load shedding between now and year's end

Residents of Guyana will experience black-outs (load shedding) from now until the rest of the year.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Bharat Dindyal said that the present demand for electricity has reached the peak experienced during the Christmas season.

India: Learning in the time of load-shedding

As festival of lights nears, the Nagpur University, it seems, is slipping into dark age with load-shedding severely hampering not just its administrative work but also academic activities. Its office at Maharajbagh Square and seven other premises spread on Amravati Road have been badly hit by power cuts.

The university is spending lakhs of rupees on renovation and repair works in all of its eight campuses in view of visit of National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC). It is even building a Rs 66 lakh gate for its Amravati Road campus. Strangely, no thought has been given to tackling the power crisis.

Pakistan: Protests intensified against loadshedding

The frequent power breakdowns and prolonged loadshedding have sparked protests across the country on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the onging power crisis has paralyzed the normal life of people in Karachi, as several areas are facing grave water shortage.

According to Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) sources, Unit one of Bin Qasim Power Plant was tripped over some technical fault, suspending 120MW of power supply to the metropolis.

Pakistan: Protest held against loadshedding

A crowded protest was held in Charsada against loadshedding and other public miseries and the furious marchers burnt tires and blocked roads.

According to details, hundreds of PPP Sherpao members and public observed a large protest against long duration of load shedding, misbehaver of WAPDA officials, flour crises and poor law and order situation. The protestors burnt the tires and blocked the Tangi Peshawar and Takhat Bhai Swat roads for all kinds of traffic.

Pakistan: Citizens of Karachi face huge power breakdown

Huge power breakdown had occurred in Karachi on Wednesday when two power circuits of NKI zone were suddenly tripped due to flaws in system. The second phase of breakdown had followed immediately afterwards, Daily Times learned.

The informed sources in Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) told Daily Times that the first breakdown happened at about 9 15 am when Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) NKI circuits connecting the utility to the national grid were tripped. These circuits are responsible for power supply to certain areas of city including Baldia Town, Orangi Town, North Nazimabad Town, New Karachi Town, Mehmoodabad, Manzoor Colony, Akhtar Colony and many other areas of city.

Pakistan: No electricity , no study: teachers and students unite

Students and teachers are equally suffering due to the unscheduled load shedding in the city, which is hampering their lectures and laboratory work.

Students in Masters and Bachelors programmes, especially those enrolled in the semester system, said that they were the ‘worst victims’ of unscheduled power outages. They said the problem was even worse for science and information technology students because most of their classes were held in laboratories and required electricity.

Zimbabwe: Harare to ask coalminers to establish power plants

Firms applying to mine coal in Zimbabwe will now be required to include plans to set up thermal power plants as the country battles to improve availability of electricity, a top government official said Wednesday.

Government mining promotion and development director Titus Nyatsanga said in helping provide a long-term solution to power shortages, the move would help to spread development across the country which holds vast deposits of coal.

Venezuela: Oil powerhouse Venezuela struggles to keep lights on

Despite having some of the world's largest energy reserves, Venezuela is increasingly struggling to maintain basic electrical service, a growing challenge for leftist President Hugo Chavez.

The OPEC nation has suffered three nationwide blackouts this year, and chronic power shortages have sparked protests from the western Andean highlands to San Felix, a city of mostly poor industrial workers in the sweltering south.

Bolivia: Se normaliza el abastecimiento de gasolina pero el diesel aún escasea

After more than 15 days of suffering a shortage of fuel, yesterday was seen the normalizing of the distribution of gasoline in different suppliers of the city, however diesel is not yet sufficient to supply the demand that has increased by strong agricultural season, or to transport, announcing measures as from Monday if no supply normalizes.

Bolivia: Tensión entre las petroleras y YPFB agrava crisis energética

Meanwhile, the lack of diesel in the capital Cruceños caused long queues of buses, trucks and fleets in hopes of getting fuel.
The national marketing manager, Rodrigo Carrasco, said that while the blockades continue, for the disposal of some civic organizations, it will be difficult for the diesel reaches Santa Cruz. While the commercial manager of YPFB Refining, Ramiro Rocabado, said that despite the increased production at plants in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, the issue involves more investment by oil companies.

Dominican Republic: Daily blackouts last up to 18 hours in the Dominican Republic - World Watch

Daily blackouts lasting as long as 18 hours have put the Dominican Republic on edge. The government claims power output is at 85 percent of capacity but residents don't believe it. Businesses without generators are running into serious problems, and those with generators are suffering because of the high cost of fuel. The main tourist resort areas of Punta Cana and Puerto Plata have been largely unaffected because tourist businesses there have generators or buy electricity from private power companies.

India: Govt announces 90-min power cut for Chennai

Brace yourself for more power cuts. As the state reels under an acute electricity crisis, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) on Saturday announced a punishing increase in the duration of the scheduled daily power cuts from Monday.

Chennai residents will have to bear a 90-minute power cut each day at the very least, while those in the suburbs will have to go without power for two hours in the morning and one in the night. The mofussil areas will not have power for nearly five hours a day. In addition, the TNEB has announced a ban on the use of welding sets during peak hours and appealed to farmers not to run pump sets between 6 and 10 pm. The public and commercial establishments have also been asked to avoid use of decorative and neon lights.

Kyrgyzstan: No electricity lead to stress in Kyrgyz community

It has been several days since rotating blackouts began in Kyrgyzstan, but it was enough to cause citizens a major stress. And this kind of situation with electricity shortage promises to last minimum till April 2009, specialists say. In order to find out ordinary people's opinions on these blackouts, the news agency "24.kg" interviewed Valentina Ivanova, a candidate of psychological science, psychology department associate professor of Russian Slavic University.

Nepal: Dealers Call PM to End Shortage of Cooking Gas

Gas dealers on Saturday called on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to take initiatives to ensure a smooth supply of cooking gas.
Representatives of the Gas Dealers Association of Nepal (GDAN) handed over a memorandum to the PM, asking the latter to facilitate the import of cooking gas as per the demand. The gas dealers also asked the government to defer the privatisation of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).
Pointing that the country had been reeling under the shortage of cooking gas for two years, the gas dealers asked the PM to take initiatives to save their business from going ashtray. The delegates said there were 10,000 gas dealers in the country. They said they were finding it difficult to carry on with their business due to a perennial shortage of gas.

Pakistan: No letup during Ramazan, increase in duration expected

Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) has no plan to relax loadshedding even during Ramazan and it is likely that the schedule of power outage could further increase from 8 to 10 hours, said Ghayoor Ahmad, a senior Iesco official.

Pakistan: Shahdara ’ s area without power for 19 days

Shahdara Factory Area is without electricity for the last 19 days and residents of the area are considering taking the law into their hands to get the attention of the authorities concerned, The News has learnt.

Two educational institutions namely CDGL Girls Middle School Shahdara and Government Weaving and Finishing Institute, a private weaving factory, and around two dozen residential quarters within the factory premises are without electricity.

UAE: GCC in $217bn power capacity expansion drive

GCC countries are in a serious drive to expand their power capacity and have already earmarked $217 billion (Dh797bn) on power projects to date.

Majority of the new projects are in Saudi Arabia, where power-starved mega projects are expected to go on stream from this year up to 2012, according to data from projects information specialist ProLeads.