This is the moment an entire Chinese highway goes dark as the energy crisis affecting the country strains the local power grid.
The black-out was reported along the motorway in Shenbei New District and Hunnan New District in Shenyang City, capital of the Chinese province of Liaoning on 23rd September.
According to local media, the blackout caused chaos on the road, resulting in heavy congestion and confusion among motorists as traffic lights stopped giving signals.
The Shenyang Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology stated the incident took place due to the huge difference in demand for power and supply.
The Bureau added that it promises to protect the nine million people living in the city and that the power cuts were necessary to protect the power grid and prevent an overload.
The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party tabloid site, reported that millions of people across China were affected by similar cuts as those seen in the footage from Shenyang.
The cause of the sudden disparity in demand and supply is believed to have been caused by a number of factors.
According to the Global Times, the main problem is a combination of coal shortage and a surging demand for power as the economy rebounds from the COVID pandemic and more stringent regulations on power generation dependant on fossil fuels.
The power outages have generated public anger as energy rationing across the country limits residents’ ability to carry out their everyday activities, reports Al-Jazeera.
The outages are also spilling over into industry as it has forced the world’s largest exporter to ration the amount of power factories are allowed to consume.
Major manufactures such as Apple, Tesla and Intel have had to limit or halt production at their factories as a result.
Andy Mok, a senior researcher at the Centre for China and Globalisation, said the power outages are a “short-term cyclical problem” and should be resolved before long.
Adam Ni, an analyst at the think tank China Neican, was less optimistic and stated the issue may be more systematic.
