China's worst heat wave on record is crippling power supplies.

 

Cracked paddy field amid a severe drought in Neijiang, Sichuan province.

A power shortage brought on by a record heat wave and related drought has been causing chaos in Sichuan, a province in southwest China home to 80 million people, for weeks.

It has dimmed skyscrapers, shut factories, darkened subways, and plunged homes and offices into rolling blackouts, forcing air conditioning to be unplugged, and killed thousands of poultry and fish at farms hit by electricity cuts.

From the nearby megacity of Chongqing and the eastern provinces along the Yangtze River to the financial center of Shanghai, where the iconic skyline fell dark this week to conserve electricity, the effects have been felt far and wide.

The severe power shortage has surprised the populace, who have become accustomed to better living conditions and infrastructure in recent decades in a nation that takes pride in economic prosperity and stability.

Long power outages bring back memories of an era long gone, before China's economic growth brought about its flashy metropolises and pulled millions out of poverty.

And now that sense of security and economic expansion is in danger from climate change.

The current heat wave is the worst China has experienced in more than 60 years of record-keeping. It has lasted for more than 70 days, sweeping across much of the nation and shattering temperature records at countless weather sites.

China's economy and people are so large that any significant disruption in its power supply could result in enormous loss and misery.

"These so-called extreme weather events will have more impact on our lives and electricity supply," said Li Shuo, climate adviser with Greenpeace in Beijing. "And perhaps we all need to reconsider whether these extreme events will become the new normal."

According to experts, China's energy system is significantly less resilient than it needs to be to handle the escalating challenges posed by climate change as evidenced by the Sichuan power shortage.

While some worry that the industry will increase the number of coal-fired power plants to secure energy supplies and jeopardize China's commitments to reach peak carbon by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, others think the industry is moving in the right way toward reform.