China power shortages add to supply chain woes

 Washington Examiner:

Electricity customers across China were forced to spend periods of the last few weeks in the dark as utilities cut out the lights to manage significant power shortages.

The consequences are leading to forecasts of additional obstacles to a global economic recovery, with the disruptions to the world's second-largest economy expected to raise prices and compound existing supply chain issues.

China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index, an indicator of the general health of the sector, contracted to 49.6 for the month of September, the lowest since February 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was beginning.

Power constraints didn't help. The country's largest industrial power users, especially manufacturing operations, were the first victims of rationing as supplying power to residences took priority, according to Helsinki-based Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst for the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Numerous reports over the last week detail factories having to close or find ways to work around the shortages. A shoe factory in Guangdong province rented a diesel generator at a cost of $10,000 per month to maintain operations. Its manager said this is the "worst year since we opened the factory nearly 20 years ago,” the New York Times reported .

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There is a reason why China makes solar panels and does not use them.  They are not reliable and it now appears the Chicoms do not have a reliable source of coal at this point.  This lack of coal will also reduce their ability to even produce solar panels.