Electricity consumption in China rose five percent last year to a record

Electricity consumption in China rose five percent last year to a record 10.4 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh). China thus became the first country in the world to exceed 10 trillion kWh in annual consumption. This was reported by China’s National Energy Administration, according to Reuters. China’s electricity consumption last year was higher than that of the EU, Russia, India and Japan combined, and more than double that of the United States.

Growth in electricity demand is being driven largely by the technology sector and electric vehicles. The rapid development of the digital economy and new technologies has created new demand. Accelerated construction of new infrastructure, such as base stations for 5G networks and charging stations, increased energy consumption in the internet and related services sector by more than 30 percent. Energy consumption in the electric vehicle charging and battery-swapping sector rose by almost 50 percent. By the end of November, the number of electric vehicle charging stations in China had increased 52 percent year on year to 19.3 million.

Electricity consumption for the production of electric and hybrid cars rose by 20 percent. Electricity consumption for the production of wind turbines increased by more than 30 percent. The growing electrification of households is also contributing to the increase in overall electricity demand, Xinhua reported.

China’s state-owned power company State Grid Corp. of China announced this week that it will increase investment in fixed assets by around 40 percent over the next five years. The investment is aimed at expanding the country’s power grid.

Electricity demand is growing around the world amid the development of data centers for artificial intelligence and the use of electric vehicles. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated last year that global electricity demand would increase by 3.3 percent in 2025, and then rise by 3.7 percent this year to a new record.