China's power generation up 6.9% in April

BEIJING - China's major power plants generated 510.7 billion kilowatt-hours of power in April, up 6.9 percent year-on-year, data showed.

Thermal power production reached 378.4 billion kilowatt-hours with a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent in April, while hydropower and nuclear power plants created 70.1 billion kilowatt-hours and 21.5 billion kilowatt-hours, respectively, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Electricity generated by wind and solar farms in April saw strong year-on-year growth of 22.6 percent and 26.4 percent, generating 32.84 billion kilowatt-hours and 7.7 billion kilowatt-hours, respectively, as China has been promoting renewable energy such as wind and solar power in recent years to cope with pollution and boost growth quality.

Power generation rose 7.7 percent year-on-year in the first four months of 2018 to reach 2.08 trillion kilowatt-hours.

China's total electricity consumption was 2.1 trillion kilowatt-hours in the Jan-April period, up 9.3 percent from a year earlier, indicating the economy continued to stabilize and improve, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.