The China Electricity Council is forecasting China's
average annual power consumption growth from 2011 to 2015 at 8.5%,the
state-controlled Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday.
The pace may slow to 5.5% during the 2015-2020 period, Xinhua said, citing the
council's report on the next five-year plan for China's power sector.
China's
electricity consumption is around 4.17 trillion kilowatt hours this year, up
14.6% from 2009's level of 3.64 trillion kilowatt hours.
The country will invest CNY5.3 trillion ($800 billion) in the power sector in
2011-2015 period, up 68% from the previous five-year period, according to the
report. Investment will likely rise CNY5.8 trillion in the 2015-2020 period,
Xinhua said.
China's
installed generation capacity is forecast to increase from 950 gigawatts now to
1,437 GW in 2015 and 188.5 GW in 2020, it said.
China's
average retail price of electricity may increase 25.2% to CNY0.71 per kilowatt
hours in 2015, compared with the current CNY0.57, and to CNY0.81 per kWh in
2020, Xinhua said.