Power generation capacity and investment increases in China

The cumulative installed capacity of power generation in China rose to 2.97 billion kilowatts by the end of February, a year-on-year increase of 14.7 percent, with solar power reaching 650 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 56.9 percent and wind power up 21.3 percent year-on-year to 450 million kilowatts, official data showed on Monday.

Meanwhile, total investment in power generation projects by major power generation enterprises nationwide was 76.1 billion yuan ($10.57 billion), an increase of 8.3 percent year-on-year. The investment in grid projects was 32.7 billion yuan, an increase of 2.3 percent year-on-year, it said.

China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, logged robust expansion in the first two months of 2024, with power use climbing 11 percent year-on-year to 1.53 trillion kilowatt-hours during the first two months this year, said the administration.

Specifically, power consumed by primary and secondary industries went up 11.1 percent and 9.7 percent year-on-year, respectively. Power used by the tertiary sector soared 15.7 percent.

In the Jan-Feb period, China's residential power use registered a 10.5 percent increase from the same period last year, the data revealed.