China's installed electricity generation capacity reached 2.62 TW by the end of March, a 9.1% rise from a year earlier, data showed from the National Energy Administration on April 23.
Wind installed capacity was 375.7 GW, up 11.7% year on year during the period, and solar capacity rose 33.7% to 425.89 GW, the NEA data showed.
Hydropower installations totaled 415.46 GW, a 5.4% rise from a year earlier, while thermal capacity reached 1,340.19 GW, a 3% rise year on year. Nuclear capacity rose 4.3% to 56.76 GW.
In January-March, coal consumption for power generation was registered at 138.26 million tonnes, up 2.7% year on year.
In the first three months of this year, utilization of all power generation units averaged 868 hours, down 31 hours from a year earlier.
By source, hydro- and thermal-based units declined 92 hours and 18 hours to 544 hours and 1,097 hours, respectively. The operation of wind and unclear units gained by 61 and 17 hours respectively to 615 and 1,864 hours. Solar power utilization increased 3 hours to 303 hours, data showed.
In January-March, China invested a total of 126.4 billion yuan in major power projects, a 55.2% year on year. Investment on solar farms soared 177.6% and nuclear power rose 53.5% year on eyar to 52.2 billion and 16.1 billion. The investment on grid projects rose 7.5% to 66.8 billion yuan.
(Writing by Emma Yang Editing by Harry Huo)
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