China's Power Consumption to Grow 7 pct in 2010

China's power consumption would rise 7 percent this year if the country could maintain an 8-percent growth of economy, Wang Xudong, chief of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), said here Monday.

Because the economy would continue to improve this year, the power consumption is expected to steadily increase to 3.9 trillion kilowatt-hours, a rise of 7 percent from last year, Wang said at a meeting of the SERC.

Despite a slump in the first half of last year due to global economic downturn, China's power consumption totaled 3.66 trillion kilowatt-hours last year, up 6.44 percent year on year.

However, Wang warned that some regions would likely suffer from seasonal power supply shortage this year as uncertainties remain in coal supply, coal price, transportation and weather.

China would step up the development of new energy and the construction of energy bases, including the development of coal, hydro and wind power in northern and western China and nuclear power in central and eastern regions, he said.