Although the Huaneng Yueyang power plant was designed to provide less than 8 percent of Hunan's electricity demand, due to the recent bad weather it is currently producing almost a third of it.

Since last month, the plant has spent more than 150 million yuan ($20.9 million) on coal in order to maintain reserves of at least 100,000 tons.

Power transmission in Hunan has been badly hit following 20 days of unrelenting snow.