(Yicai Global) Oct. 14 -- Some Chinese provinces have dispatched officials to the major coal-producing regions of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to sign medium and long-term deals to guarantee supplies of the fuel for electricity generation after recent coal shortages and power outages.

Electricity demand is at an all-time high in southwestern Sichuan province, with power use predicted to increase by up to about 9 percent from December to next April, according to the province’s economic and information department. The maximum power load is also forecast to jump 8 percent in the same period from a year earlier.

Sichuan’s electricity mainly comes from hydropower, though output from that source can only reach one-third of its capacity during the dry season, resulting in power and coal shortages, Ma Guangwen, director of the energy research center of Sichuan University, told Yicai Global. Other provinces also face the same problem, Ma added.

Sichuan sent officials to Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia to but coal for power generation and ensure long-term supplies. They also pledged to control the urban light shows and reduce outdoor lighting and illuminated advertising at night.

It will take some time to relieve the coal supply shortage, according to Xu Hui, secretary to the president of Sichuan-based miner Hidili Industry. After China closed several mines due to high pollution and high energy consumption a few years ago, the remaining coal producers are mainly mid-sized and large firms, and it takes them about five years to get a mine up and running, Xu said.

Jilin province, in China’s northeast, also dispatched representatives to coal miners in Inner Mongolia to ink purchase and transportation deals. Jilin is also striving to import more coal from neighboring Russia and well as Indonesia and Mongolia.

Some 29 key coal producers in Inner Mongolia have undertaken production tasks for a total of 53 million tons of coal for 18 provinces and cities, according to its energy bureau. The city of Ordos had 225 operational coal mines as of early October, with an annual production capacity of 640 million tons. The city’s average daily output exceeded 2.1 million tons this month, setting a high for the year.

Shanxi province has signed medium and long-term contracts for the fourth quarter with 14 provinces and municipalities, and distributed the related tasks to various local and central state-owned coal producers.

Editor: Futura Costaglione