China’s electricity sector transformation well underway!

16.07.15 By
This article is more than 8 years old

New data showing coal consumption has shrunk again in China is further proof the transformation of the electricity sector in the world’s biggest economy is underway.

Key half-year statistics released today by China’s National Energy Administration show that while electricity demand grew 1.3% for the first six months of 2015, year on year, China’s coal consumption dropped 5% during the same period.

This follows a 3% decline in coal consumption in 2014. Coal imports were also down 38% during the first six months of this year and is projected to decline by more than 80 megatonnes over 2015 – almost double the combined increase in demand from India and South East Asia.

Meanwhile, wind farm electricity generation was up 29% year-on-year for the half year on the back of 22GW of wind farms being installed in the past 12 months.

These latest figures underscore the findings of our Galilee Basin – Unburnable Coal report which warned the odds were stacked against the Galilee Basin ever being developed as export markets dwindled.

And according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, the data is further proof that the coal industry is in structural decline.

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