China's consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, exceeded 2.33 trillion kWh in the first quarter of 2024, up 9.8% YoY, the National Energy Administration said Wednesday.
In March alone, the country's power use expanded 7.4% YoY to 794.2 billion kWh.
such a massive growth in electricity consumptions in years.. China could touch magical 10 trillion kwh electricity output in 2024 year.. mind boggling
Q1 electricity consumption growth of 9.8% is much higher than the Q1 GDP growth of 5.3% while Q1 crude imports were basically flat YoY and actually down in March even though there was also rapid growth in the chemicals sector (a major consumer of crude).
These are pretty clear signs that Chinese economic growth is now powered by growth in domestically generated electricity, much of which are from renewables.
Total crude imports for the first quarter stood at 137.4 million tons, a 0.7% increase from last year's first quarter figure of 136.3 million tons.