China's Jan-Feb power generation grows faster

BEIJING - China's power generation saw faster growth in the first two months this year, with electricity from clean energy sources expanding at a rapid pace, official data showed Wednesday.

In the January-February period, power production rose 11 percent, 4.7 percentage points faster than the same period in 2017, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The 11-percent growth was also the highest since August of 2013, according to the NBS.

Electricity from thermal power plants, which accounts for 77 percent of all the power generation, jumped 9.8 percent, 2.8 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

Electricity from hydropower plants rose 5.9 percent, compared to a 4.7-percent decrease registered for the first two month of last year.

Nuclear, wind, and solar power production surged by 17.9 percent, 34.7 percent, and 36 percent respectively, said the NBS.

The NBS also reported strong growth in the production of a number of energy sources in January and February.

Coal output increased 5.7 percent to 520 million tons, compared to the 1.7 percent year-on-year decline in the first two months last year.

Natural gas output rose 4.9 percent to 26.19 billion cubic meters, compared to the zero growth registered for the first two months of 2017.

Crude oil output dropped 1.9 percent, narrowing by 6.1 percentage points from the same period last year.