Desperate factory owners in China are increasingly turning to diesel generators to keep their businesses going during a power crisis that is threatening both the country’s economic growth and its green ambitions.

Power shortages have hobbled industry and left some households without electricity. In an effort to ration fuel, some provinces have ordered factories to shut for a few days each week, with employees told to use the stairs and offices pressured to avoid using air conditioners at low temperatures.

With the winter heating season fast approaching, China has also instructed coal miners to expand production significantly and signalled that it would allow energy producers that had been crippled by high coal costs to raise electricity prices.