Strong, comprehensive measures are needed to address China's power shortage, analysts say.
Those measures should include termination of reckless projects to cool the economy, the analysts say.
And to ensure a healthy sustainable development, the structure of industries as a whole and the mix of energy sources should be optimized.
Frugal use of energy should become compulsory.
In spite of negative effects on the environment, coal will remain the major energy source.
Coal-fired power made up 73.72 percent of China's total power consumption in 2004.
Last year's coal output was 1.956 billion tons, of which 800 million was produced by stretching the capacity.
In future, the analysts say, the share of coal in the energy portfolio will decline gradually.
The Yangtze River Delta is one of the richest areas in China. But the region is poor in energy resources and in the last couple of years this economic engine house of the country was strangled by repeated power cuts.
Supply is most stretched in the summer peak.
It is not unusual for a factory to operate only four days a week.
In Zhejiang Province, which was hardest hit, blackouts averaged 11.32 days a month in the first half of 2004.
Escalators in commercial centers were stopped. Half the streetlights were off. And in some areas, even traffic lights were temporarily turned off.
The power shortage is not restricted to the Yangtze Delta. Statistics show 24 provincial regions were forced to ration power in 2004.
This has occurred despite unprecedented growth of energy production, which was even faster than GDP growth in the period 2001-2005.
Last year energy output reached the equivalent of 1.97 billion tons of coal, up 15 percent on a year before. In terms of installed power generating capacity, the growth rate was 14.5 percent.
That's a world record.
Rising living standards have propelled demand, but even with major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the per capita consumption of electricity is way below that of developed countries.
The analysts say the major factor for the energy shortage is the overheated and improperly structured economy, accompanied by a wasteful style of energy use.
"The fast growing economy is a basic cause for the power shortage," says Zhou Dadi, director of the Energy Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission.
The problem is partly institutional. China's Ministry of Energy was scrapped more than a decade ago. The tasks of reserves prospecting, production, transport and sales of energy are divided among different ministries.
Only months ago the Energy Bureau under the NDRC was solely responsible for the overall planning and coordination of efforts in the nation's energy development. Given an inferior status and insufficient manpower, the bureau had not performed effectively.
A high profile Leading Group on Energy Development was inaugurated in May. It comprises 13 top officials from government departments and the military, headed by the premier and two vice premiers.
A dedicated LGED Office of under-ministerial level was set up simultaneously.
The two new government arms are expected to deal with strategic energy issues and coordinate efforts more effectively in the coming years.