BEIJING (Reuters – China’s biggest provincial economy, in the northeast rust Belt of its country, warned Monday that power supplies would worsen despite attempts by the government to manage electricity demand and increase coal supply in a period when multiple countries are facing an energy crisis.

China’s Liaoning Province issued Monday its second highest level alert for power shortages. This was the fifth such alert in as many weeks.

Liaoning, China’s largest economy and the one that consumes the most electricity of all three provinces comprising China’s rustiest industrial area, has the highest economic output. Since mid-September, it has experienced widespread power shortages. Level two alerts for power shortages indicate a gap in demand of between 10% and 20% of the total demand.

As coronavirus restrictions have been lifted, the rebound in global economic activity has led to shortages in fuels for power generation in China. This has left governments and industries scrambling in winter.

The Liaoning Provincial Industry and Informatization Department stated that the greatest power shortfall could be 4.74 gigawatts, or GW on Oct 11.

According to the order, a curb on power usage was put into place at 6 a.m. (2220 GMT on Sunday), it stated.

A level 2 power crisis alert was also issued by the province for the three last days of September. This occurred when there were 5.4 gigawatts of power outages, which left hundreds of thousands without power and forced many industrial plants to stop production.

Power shortages are a result of a tightening supply, skyrocketing coal prices and resulting in fewer people being able to get electricity. Due to the slow winds, wind farms were also idled. In 2020, 8.2% of Liaoning’s electricity generation was generated by wind power.

China’s two largest coal-mining regions, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia ordered over 200 mines last week to increase production and prioritize coal supply to northeastern power plants, Liaoning included.

However, traders and analysts expect that coal production will continue to fall this winter and China will need to reduce its industrial power consumption by around 12% for the fourth quarter.

China’s futures on thermal coal rose by 8% and reached a daily limit of upper trading shortly after Monday trade began.

Moody’s Investors Service reported that China’s electric power shortages will increase economic stress, which could impact the growth of GDP for 2022. The risks for GDP projections are even greater if disruptions in production and supply chain feed through.