Staff members of local power supply company prepare their device to inspect the power line in Benxi, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Dec. 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Pan Yulong)

Chinese localities have stepped up efforts to ensure energy supply for the upcoming Spring Festival holidays, as new cold waves have frozen a number of provinces including Central China's Henan and East China's Jiangsu.

Zhang Jianhua, head of the National Energy Administration (NEA), led an investigation team involving relevant departments to visit an electricity dispatch control center and a centralized control room for heating and power plants, in a bid to ensure electricity and heating supply as well as production safety during the upcoming Spring Festival holidays, the official NEA website showed on Sunday.

Henan is in the "center" of this round of widespread rain, snow and freezing weather, with the cumulative snowfall and snow depths anticipated to break records.

The local power sector has enhanced protection of the province's water, heating and natural gas supply and other power supply facilities, while focusing on the power situation of the high-speed rail station, bus station and hospitals, in a bid to ensure the smooth and reliable supply of electricity.

Affected by the new round of cold waves, East China's Shandong experienced a wide range of cold weather. Cities including Weihai, Dongying and Zibo have established de-icing teams.

Shandong has set up 1,700 emergency repair points, with more than 30,000 workers on standby to ensure immediate responses.

In Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, the power sector has carried out trouble-shooting on key heating lines. 

Relying on the power big data platform, the local department can monitor changes in the load of electricity for heating. 
Despite the sudden onset of the cold wave, China has made good preparations with a stable supply of coal, experts said, noting that residential electricity is always given priority in supply.

In 2023, China imported a total of 474.4 million tons of coal, up 61.8 percent year-on-year, a record high, according to the Chinese customs data.

In addition, with the optimized power supply structure and accelerated transition to green-energy sources, China's cumulative installed capacity of new-energy power generation is expected to surpass that of coal for the first time this year, the China Electricity Council said in January.