China's power consumption rises steadily amid accelerating g

BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- China's electricity consumption registered solid growth in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, accompanied by an accelerated transition toward green and low-carbon power supply, industry data showed.

The country's total electricity use reached 2.51 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in Q1, up 5.2 percent year on year, according to a report released by the China Electricity Council (CEC). The growth rate accelerated by 2.7 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

Electricity consumption by secondary and tertiary industries rose by 4.7 percent and 8.1 percent year on year, respectively, during Q1.

Within the secondary industry, power usage by high-tech and equipment manufacturing sectors saw a notable increase of 8.6 percent year on year in Q1, accelerating by 5 percentage points from a year earlier.

Driven by swift development in big data and cloud computing, electricity consumption for internet data services surged by 44 percent year on year. Meanwhile, consumption for electric vehicle charging and battery swapping services skyrocketed by 53.8 percent during this period.

These two sectors together contributed 55.4 percent to the electricity consumption growth of the tertiary industry, the report noted.

"New-type infrastructure will continue to drive rapid electricity consumption growth in related sectors throughout 2026," said Jiang Debin, deputy director of the CEC's statistics and data department.

He projected China's full-year electricity consumption to reach between 10.9 trillion and 11 trillion kWh in 2026, representing annual growth of 5 to 6 percent.

Investment in the power sector remained strong, climbing 33.4 percent year on year in Q1 to 313 billion yuan (about 45.6 billion U.S. dollars).

By the end of March 2026, China's total installed power generation capacity had reached 3.96 billion kW, inching closer to the 4-billion-kW milestone expected to be surpassed in the second quarter (Q2).

Non-fossil energy capacity accounted for 62 percent of total installed power generation capacity, an increase of 3 percentage points compared with the same period of 2025.

In Q1, new energy power generation maintained rapid growth. The combined output of wind and solar power accounted for 23.2 percent of total power generation. Total non-fossil fuel power generation accounted for 40.5 percent of the overall power generation, an increase of 0.8 percentage points year on year.

"Looking ahead, with the continued large-scale commissioning of new energy projects, total newly installed power generation capacity in 2026 is expected to exceed 400 million kW, of which new energy capacity is projected to surpass 300 million kW," Jiang said.

The report projects that by the end of 2026, the country's total installed power capacity is expected to reach 4.3 billion kW, with non-fossil fuel installed capacity reaching 2.7 billion kW, accounting for approximately 63 percent of the total, while coal-fired power capacity is projected to decrease to roughly 31 percent.

China is making continuous efforts to speed up its transition to a model of green development and work toward the goals of reaching carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.