●High-end manufacturing and emerging service industries drive electricity consumption growth

　　●Power investment is growing rapidly, and production continues the trend of green and low-carbon production

　　According to data released by the National Energy Administration a few days ago, the electricity consumption of the whole society has achieved a positive year-on-year growth since April. The growth rates in April, May, and June were 0.7%, 4.6% and 6.1%, respectively, and they picked up month by month. “The growth rate of electricity consumption dropped from 6.5% year-on-year in the first quarter to a year-on-year growth of 3.9% in the second quarter. The growth rate rose to 6.1% in June. This was due to the rising temperature, but the overall economy was gradually recovering and new momentum Maintaining strong support is the main reason." said Yu Chongde, full-time vice chairman and secretary general of the China Electricity Council.

　　Electricity consumption is a barometer of economic operation.

　　According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the added value of high-tech manufacturing in the second quarter increased by 9.8% year-on-year, making it the industry sector with the highest growth rate; the added value of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 9.5% year-on-year, making it the industry sector with the largest rebound.

　　Correspondingly, the growth rate of electricity consumption in the high-tech and equipment manufacturing industries has rebounded significantly. In the second quarter, high-tech and equipment manufacturing power consumption increased by 4.3% year-on-year, 19.1 percentage points higher than the growth rate in the first quarter, and the growth rate further rose to 8.4% in June.

　　According to Yu Chongde, in the first half of the year, the power consumption of network information services that relied on new technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things increased significantly. Among them, the power consumption of information transmission/software and information technology services increased by 27.7% year-on-year.

　　"Future energy transformation and development will show an obvious electrification trend, with huge potential for electric energy substitution, and my country's electricity demand is still in a period of long-term growth." said Zhang Lin, deputy director of the China Electricity Council's Industry Development and Environmental Resources Department.

　　The CEC report showed that power investment grew rapidly in the first half of the year. The major power companies included in the industry investment statistics system completed a total investment of 339.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.6%. The investment in power supply project construction was 173.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51.5%; the investment in power grid engineering construction was 165.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%. The completed investment in clean energy such as hydropower, nuclear power, and wind power accounted for 92.5% of the completed investment in power, an increase of 10.4 percentage points from the same period last year.

　　In terms of utilization rate, clean energy consumption continued to improve. In the first half of the year, the utilization rate of wind power and photovoltaic power generation reached 96.1% and 97.9%, respectively, up 0.8 and 0.3 percentage points year-on-year.

　　How about the power supply and demand situation in the second half of the year? The CEC report believes that the growth rate of electricity consumption in the second half of the year is expected to rebound significantly from the first half of the year. It is worth noting that there is still a certain degree of uncertainty in subsequent power consumption growth. According to Yu Chongde's analysis, from the perspective of power supply, one is the uncertainty of precipitation in the main river basins, which brings uncertainty in hydropower supply capacity. Second, the current supply of coal in some areas is tight. If there is less water and electricity in the second half of the year, the supply of coal in the northeast, northwest, and southwest regions is likely to fall short of demand. From the perspective of power demand, factors such as the spread of overseas epidemics and extreme climate changes may also bring uncertainty to power consumption.

　　Yu Chongde suggested to closely track changes in the power supply and demand situation and make relevant plans; ensure a stable supply of electric coal; improve system regulation capabilities, and further increase the enthusiasm for flexible power supply and energy storage device construction.

　　"People's Daily" (Version 02, August 09, 2020)

　　Reporter Ran Yongping Ding Yiting