[Ferro-Alloys.com] Electricity consumption in most parts of China for the first quarter of 2021 could rise by 20pc from the same period last year, according to the country's largest utility State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC). This would support thermal coal demand.

 

SGCC and its subsidiaries supplied just over 5,833TWh in 2020, or nearly 78pc of the national total. SGCC said yesterday that it expects to supply 20pc more power for January-March, with lower temperatures than a year earlier potentially sustaining heating demand. It said power demand was lower during the first quarter of 2020 because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, providing a lower base for comparison this year. China consumed 1,570TWh of electricity in January-March 2020, a decline of 6.5pc year on year, according to data from the National Energy Administration.

 

A 20pc year-on-year increase in national power generation in the first quarter of 2021 implies total output of 1,895TWh. China expanded its installed wind and solar capacity at a record rate in 2020, but a 20pc increase in power demand would still probably boost thermal generation, around 90pc of which is coal-fired.

 

China added a net total of 121.6GW of wind and solar capacity in 2020, according to China Electricity Council (CEC) data, up from 54.7GW of net additions in 2019 and a 2016-18 pace of 61.9 GW/yr. The country now has 281.5GW of wind and 253.4GW of solar, according to CEC.

 

China also added a net 1.2GW of nuclear capacity to 49.9GW, 12.1GW of hydro to 370.2GW and 55.6GW of thermal capacity to 1,245GW.

 

Source: Argusmedia