China boosted its coal and gas power generation by 3.1% in April from a year earlier as wind and nuclear power output fell.
Despite a 1% decline in domestic coal output, China is boosting coal power generation to make up for lower wind speeds and some nuclear plants undergoing maintenance.
China still has plentiful coal inventories and power plants have been ordered to keep stocks available for the coming peak summer season, when electricity demand is expected to jump.
The country’s thermal power generation, which comes mostly from coal and a small share from natural gas, increased by 3.6% between January and April, compared to the same period of 2025, data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.
Total power generation in the world’s second-biggest economy rose by 2.6% in April from a year earlier and by 3.3% compared to January–April 2025, according to the data.
While hydropower and solar power generation has increased so far this year, wind and nuclear power output has dropped, boosting the volumes of fossil fuels being burnt for electricity supplies.
Chinese coal imports have dropped this year, but so have exports in recent weeks as China looks to secure its electricity supply amid low LNG intake due to high prices and continued uncertainty about the prices of global energy commodities amid the Iran war.
China, despite the massive renewables push and its leading position as the world’s biggest investor in renewable power capacity additions, continues to rely on coal to meet its demand and fill in gaps whenever renewables falter, as was the case with wind power in recent months or with hydropower two years ago.
Last year, China accounted for a massive 78% of all global coal power capacity that began operating. The world’s top coal consumer and importer also makes up a whopping 86% of the total global capacity under construction and expected to be commissioned this year, according to the data analyzed by non-profit Global Energy Monitor (GEM).
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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