Big increases from mostly coal-fired thermal generators (+149 billion kWh), wind farms (+79 billion kWh) and solar generators (+19 billion kWh) offset a fall in hydro production (-82 billion kWh).
Chartbook: China electricity generationThe two provinces of Sichuan (354 billion kWh) and Yunnan (296 billion kWh) in southern China produced almost half of the country’s total hydro-electric power (1,352 billion kWh) in 2020.
ENERGY SECURITYSouth China’s drought and reduced hydro generation explains why the central government has encouraged coal miners to maximise production and coal-fired generators to stockpile fuel.
Coal imports increased by +86 million tonnes (+90%) in the first five months as generators and steelmakers took advantage of lower international prices to rebuild inventories.
Large numbers of new coal-fired plants are being authorised and built to meet short-term load growth and reliability requirements even as government plans to reduce the share of coal-fired generation in the medium and long-term.
Persons:
steelmakers, John Kemp, Barbara Lewis
Organizations:
National Bureau of Statistics, Coal, China Electricity Council, Thomson, Reuters
Locations:
China, Chartbook, Sichuan, Yunnan, Yibin