China's Power Generation Picks Up Significantly in March, an Industrial Info Market Brief

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Due to the impact of COVID-19, China's overall power consumption dropped 7.8% in the first two months of 2020, from the same period last year. However, China's power generation picked up significantly in the first half of March.

Power consumption by the "first industry" (agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and oil and gas production) and by urban and township residential households increased 3.9% and 2.4% from the first two months of 2019, respectively, while that of the "second industry" (manufacturing) and the "third industry" (services) dropped 12% and 3.1%, respectively.

China's power generation improved in March. Total output reached 17.8 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) on March 16, an increase of about 9.9% over the output on February 28, according to China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The current output is about 96% of the daily average output in March 2019.

Click here for a list of power-generation projects under construction across China, and see graph below for a breakdown by fuel type.