China’s hydropower output up +41% YoY in September was far from covering its overall power demand growth!

Despite hydropower generation in China standing at 5-year seasonal record for 2 months and rising +41% YoY or +40TWh YoY in Sep’23, thermal power generation, primarily from coal, has remained at seasonal record level too and grew +3% YoY during the period.

China hydroelectric power generation

Why is that? Despite its economy struggling with a real-estate bubble, manufacturing in China is still expanding and thus requiring more electricity. Up +9.2% YoY or +63TWh YoY in September, power consumption in China expanded faster than in previous months (+5.3% on average for Jan-Sep’23) and the year-on-year increase in September was equivalent to Switzerland’s annual power output!

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