China's power consumption on the rise

In September 2009, China's overall social power consumption reached 322.41 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), a 10.24 per cent increase year over year, according to a monthly report published by the China Electricity Council on October 15, 2009.

From January to September, China's overall social power consumption reached 2,663.55 billion kWh, a 1.4 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2008. Of that amount, power consumption in the first industry reached 72.46 billion kWh, a 6.35 per cent increase; consumption in the second industry reached 1,954.94 billion kWh, a 1.67 per cent drop; consumption in the third industry reached 293.50 billion kWh, an 11.26 per cent increase; and consumption in the household of urban and township residents reached 342.65 billion kWh, up 11.73 per cent year over year.

From January to September, the overall power consumption of industry reached 1,927.26 billion kWh, a 1.8 per cent drop year over year. Of that amount, the growth in light and heavy industry dropped 2.74 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.

There are a total of 17 provinces and regions with increases above the national average level (1.4 per cent). Xinjiang jumped to the top in the rankings (9.9 per cent), followed by Jiangxi (7.95 per cent), Hainan (7.87 per cent), Anhui (7.57 per cent),Yunnan (7.25 per cent), Hunan (6.63 per cent), Hebei (6.41), Beijing (5.25 per cent), Chongqing (5.11 per cent), Sichuan (4.02 per cent), Guangxi (3.81 per cent), Guizhou (3.71 per cent), Shandong (3.23 per cent), Fujian (2.44 per cent), Tianjin(2.03 per cent), Zhejiang (1.92 per cent) and Hubei (1.67 per cent).

From January to September, the national investment in power source projects reached USD29.15 billion. (The investment in power source projects from January to August was corrected to USD24.85 billion). As of the end of September 2008, the total installed capacity of power plants of 6 MW or more in China reached 800.18 million kW, a 9.2 per cent increase year over year.

Of that amount, installed capacity of hydropower reached 155.51 million kW, a 14.1 per cent increase; thermal power reached 622.03 million kW, a 7.2 per cent increase; nuclear power reached 9.08 million kW, remaining at the same level; and wind power reached 13.33 million kW, an 88.8 per cent increase.

From January to September, the average accumulated utilisation of power generation equipment in China reached 3,352 hours, a drop of 283 hours year over year. Of that amount, the average utilisation hour of hydropower equipment reached 2,671 hours, a drop of 180 hours year over year; and the average utilisation hour of thermal power equipment reached 3,515 hours, a drop of 284 hours year over year.

From January to September, the average coal consumption in power supply reached 341 grams per kWh, a drop of 6 grams per kWh year over year; the accumulated plant service power consumption rate reached 5.88 per cent, of which hydropower was 0.60 per cent and thermal power was 6.68 per cent; and line-loss rate reached 6.21 per cent, an increase of 0.24 per cent year over year.