China's power capacity up 94m kw in 2013

China's installed power capacity increased by 94 million kilowatts (kw) in 2013, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Monday. Thermal power accounted for the bulk of the capacity growth, topping 36.5 million kw, followed by 29.93 million kw from hydropower, 14.06 million kw from on-grid wind power, 11.3 million kw from on-grid solar power and 2.21 million kw from nuclear power. The country's total installed power capacity topped 1.25 billion kw at the end of 2013, up 9.3 percent year on year. Thermal power accounted for the bulk of the total capacity at the end of 2013, reaching more than 860 million kw, up 5.7 percent year on year. On-grid solar energy capacity increased by 340 percent from a year earlier. China's electricity consumption, a key indicator of economic activity, rose 7.5 percent year on year to 5.32 trillion kilowatt hours in 2013, according to the NEA. The growth rate exceeded the 5.5-percent rise registered in 2012, but was lower than the 11.7-percent rise registered in 2011.