China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, increased by 5 percent year-on-year to 3.4 trillion kilowatt-hours in the first half of this year, recent data from the National Energy Administration (NEA) showed.
The main consumers of electricity were the tertiary industry, and urban and rural residents. They contributed 56.5 percent to the total power use growth, 14 percentage points higher than in the previous year.
The tertiary industry, driven by the booming service industry, used 555.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the first half of 2019, up 9.4 percent.
Power consumption by information transmission, software, and information technology services grew 13.6 percent year-on-year. Leasing and business services, wholesale and retail, transport and postal services gained 12.9 percent, 10.7 percent, and 8.6 percent, respectively.
Emerging industrial forms, such as digital economy, cloud computing, charging stations and e-commerce, brought more consumption.
The central and western regions are seeing higher growth rates of electricity consumption than the eastern and northeastern areas, as their industrial structure is upgraded and rural areas are powered on. For example, growth rates in Southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region, North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were the top three in the country.
China’s power use continued to be restructured, and electric energy became more efficient than traditional energies such as gasoline and coal.
Shore power use at ports gained 316.9 percent in the first half. Many ships at ports get electricity from shore power infrastructure, instead of using fueled electric generators that add to air and noise pollution.
Also, battery charging and switching services surprisingly gained 129 percent growth. A senior official at NEA said China has the world’s largest charging network for electric vehicles, with more than a million charging piles.
The State Grid and China Southern Power Grid have introduced nearly 40,000 projects in the first half, aimed at using electric energy as an alternative. This has improved the environment and adjusted the energy structure, said Ye Chun, a senior official from the China Electricity Council (CEC), adding that there’s a huge space for electric energy use in various industries.
Electricity consumption in advanced manufacturing and hi-tech industries has maintained rapid growth, ushering in the shift in momentum.
Particularly, power use by photovoltaic equipment and components manufacturing grew by 33.1 percent. And thriving product sales in turn help upgrade power use.
China’s steady and upgrading economy is a solid base for power use growth, Ye said, and the current power use development momentum reflected the country’s economic transformation.
Meanwhile, electricity generation in China continued to use green and clean energy. By the end of June, non-fossil energy accounted for 37.2 percent of China's installed 6,000-kilowatts and larger generating units, up 1.2 percentage points from the same period last year.
Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee at the State Power Investment Corp Shi Jialin said over 80 percent of the group's investment in the past three years was in clean energy, with the annual added capacity of almost 10 million kilowatts. He said about 43 of 100 kilowatt hours were generated by clean energy.
Clean energy was allocated in boosting power supply across regions and provinces. New energy use rates in areas covered by the State Grid and China Southern Power Grid all exceeded 95 percent.
Statistics showed China's electricity supply generally met demand in the first half. And experts predicted the overall power use in 2019 will increase by 5.5 percent.
