China's thermal energy output grows in August

The statistics bureau reported on Saturday that China's thermal energy generation rose in August compared to a year ago, as the growth of hydropower output moderated. This reversed a trend of decreasing thermal power production for three months.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported that China's thermal energy generation rose by 3.7% last month compared to the same period a year earlier, reaching 614.9 billion Kilowatt-hours.

This was slightly less than the 5.8% increase in total power generation, which reached 907.4 billion kWh.

The NBS data includes power generated by industrial enterprises with annual revenues of at least 20 millions yuan (2.79 million dollars).

In China, thermal power is mainly generated by coal-fired power stations. A small amount of power comes from natural gas.

Hydropower grew 10.7% compared to a year earlier, reaching 163.5 billion kWh.

In July, the hydropower production had increased 36.2% compared to a year earlier, reaching 166.4 billion kWh.

Thermal power production was up by 1% between January and August, at 4.2 trillionkWh.

According to data from the Statistics Bureau, the total power generated in the first eight-month period of 2024 reached 6.24 trillion kWh. This is an increase of 5.1% over the previous year. (Reporting and editing by Colleen Waye)

(source: Reuters)