China power consumption up 10 pct y-o-y in November - NEA
Shanghai. December 15. INTERFAX-CHINA - China's power consumption topped 383.6 terawatt hours (TWh) in November, a 9.91 percent year-on-year increase, according to statistics released by the National Energy Administration (NEA) Dec. 14.
Power consumption over the first 11 months surged 11.85 percent year-on-year to 4,283.5 TWh, the statistics said.
The China Electricity Council (CEC), a semi-governmental industry agency, forecast in late October that power use would grow approximately 12 percent year-on-year in 2011 to 4,700 TWh.
Some in the industry believe the CEC estimates are overly-ambitious given the current global economic uncertainty.
"The European debt crisis and economic slowdown in America have dampened demand for China's manufactured goods, which has slowed down energy consumption since September," Liang Yumei, a power industry analyst with Shanxi Securities, told Interfax on Dec. 15. "A 12 percent jump in energy consumption would be difficult to maintain given the current economic climate."
"It is possible that China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth could drop to between seven and 8.5 percent next year, further dragging down power consumption," added Liang.
China's power consumption growth is likely to drop to nine percent in 2012, Chinese investment bank Essence Securities wrote in a research note Dec. 14.
Growth in power use by energy intensive industries, such as steel and chemical manufacturing, is expected to slow in 2012 as the nation shifts towards high-tech and tertiary industries as the core of its economic engine.
- WV