China's power uselikely to slow as economy weakens

Shanghai: China's power-consumption growth may slow to about 8.5 per cent this year as the world's second biggest economy expands at a weaker pace, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Power demand grew 11.7 per cent to 4.7 trillion kilowatt-hours last year, Xinhua said in a report, citing Yu Yanshan, deputy director at the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Momentum in China's economy has waned as the European sovereign-debt crisis damps exports and a crackdown on speculation in the domestic housing market weighs on demand. Electricity consumption growth may slow to 5 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the Xinhua report on Tuesday.

Economic expansion may ease to 8.5 per cent this year from 9.2 per cent in 2011, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

As the economic slowdown curbs power demand growth, China will continue to take measures to ensure stable fuel supplies and conserve energy.

"It is always worrisome to have to sustain supply of energy and resources for a country with 1.3 billion people," Liu Tienan, head of the National Energy Administration, said at a national energy work conference on Tuesday.

The country will "reasonably" control its energy consumption and expand stockpile facilities for oil, natural gas and coal this year, Liu said in a statement posted on the energy administration's website on Tuesday. China will add 200 million metric tons of coal-production capacity this year, compared with 95 million tonnes in 2011, the energy administration said. The country may build 70 gigawatts of power-generation capacity this year, after adding 90 gigawatts in 2011, according to the statement.

The nation may limit its annual energy consumption to the equivalent of 4.1 billion tonnes of standard coal and electricity demand to 6.4 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2015, the National Business Daily reported yesterday, citing the energy conference.

The official targets haven't been set yet, Zeng Yachuan, a spokesman at the administration, said by telephone from Beijing.

Energy consumption gained 5.9 per cent to 3.25 billion tonnes of standard coal in 2010, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.