(Yicai) May 29 -- The electricity load on state-owned grid operator China Southern Power Grid, whose operations span five provincial-level regions in the south of the country, hit record highs every day from May 25 to yesterday as a heatwave combined with strong demand from industrial and service sectors drove up electricity use.

Power consumption in Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region reached a peak of 275 gigawatts in the last four days, China Southern Power Grid said on its WeChat account.

The unusually early arrival of high temperatures in southern China this year, combined with industries running at full capacity, have driven the electricity load to exceed previous peak levels, CCTV reported, citing Li Zhiyong, manager of the operations and planning department at China Southern Power Grid.

Electricity use in the five provincial-level regions has broken records 20 times already since the beginning of the year, breaking the seasonal pattern seen from 2020 to 2025 when annual peak loads were usually concentrated in June and July, the Guangzhou-based firm said.

The national average temperature in April was 1.6 degrees centigrade higher than the average temperature recorded over the same period in recent years, making it the second warmest April on record, according to data from the China Meteorological Administration.

Guangdong’s highest electricity load occurs around 7 p.m., said Guo Xing, deputy general manager of energy storage operator Guangdong New Giant Energy Technology. This has to do with the widespread adoption of new energy vehicles. Electricity rates drop after 7 p.m., and so many vehicle owners choose to charge their vehicles during this period.

China Southern Power Grid has already accelerated the roll out of 3.9 gigawatts of conventional power, 14 gigawatts of renewable energy and 1.7 gigawatts of new energy storage capacity, it said.

New energy storage systems released up to 6.7 gigawatts of power during periods of record-high demand, while renewable energy generation surged more than 20 percent year on year, helping maintain stable and orderly regional power supply, the firm said.

Editor: Kim Taylor