China blackout: Why is power being cut to factories and homes

China has ordered all factories in its Sichuan province to close for six days in order to ease a power shortage amid a record heatwave. The world's second-largest economy is currently facing the worst heatwave in over 60 years with temperatures running above 40 degrees Celcius.

The power grid is under pressure from air conditioning use and hydropower generation has fallen as river levels deplete. In Sichuan, which has 94 million people, water levels at hydropower reservoirs are down by as much as half this month.

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China's major manufacturing hub Sichuan province has ordered all factories to shut down for a week to ease a power shortage. Sichuan is key for semiconductor/solar panel industries & China's lithium mining hub and the move will hit Foxconn, Intel, Apple, Tesla-supplier factories & many more.

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China is the world's top consumer of coal and the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases.