BEIJING, Aug. 23 -- China's installed power generation capacity expanded 14 percent year on year in the first seven months of this year, data from the National Energy Administration showed on Friday.

The country's total installed power generation capacity reached approximately 3.1 billion kilowatts by the end of July, the data showed.

In breakdown, solar power's cumulative power generation capacity increased by 49.8 percent to 740 million kilowatts, while wind power rose 19.8 percent year on year.

From January to July, major power enterprises in China invested a total of 415.8 billion yuan (about 58.27 billion U.S. dollars) in power supply projects, a 2.6-percent increase over the same period last year.

China's investment in power grid projects reached 294.7 billion yuan during the first seven months, up 19.2 percent year on year.

During the period, the country's power use climbed 7.7 percent to nearly 5.6 trillion kilowatt-hours, official data showed.