CHINA'S power consumption rose just 5.5 percent last year as a slowing economy dimmed demand, according to latest data.
Electricity use totaled 4.96 trillion kilowatt-hours in 2012, the National Energy Administration said in a report yesterday. It increased 11.7 percent in 2011.
Last year, power use by the primary sector, which refers to agriculture, forestry and fishing, was flat at 101.3 billion kWh, the NEA said. Power consumption by the secondary industry, which produces manufactured and other processed goods, rose 3.9 percent to 3.67 trillion kWh, while the tertiary sector, producing services, used 11.5 percent more at 569 billion kWh.
The growth in China's power consumption has slowed as factory output eased amid the slowing economy. China's economy grew 7.4 percent year on year in the third quarter, slowing for the seventh consecutive quarter. The fourth-quarter data are due on Friday.
The State Grid Corp of China's Energy Research Institute earlier forecast the country's power use at 5.3 trillion kWh in 2013, up 6.9 percent from last year.
Meanwhile, China added 87 million kilowatts of power generation capacity last year, including 19 million KW of hydropower, 51 million KW of coal-fired plants and 15.37 million KW of wind power, the NEA said.
China's combined installed generation capacity stood at 1.14 billion KW at the end of 2012, including 249 million KW of hydropower, 819 million KW of coal-fired plants, 12.57 million KW of nuclear capacity and 62.37 million KW of wind power.
This year, China aims to add 21 million KW of hydropower, 18 million KW of wind power and 10 million KW of solar power capacity.
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