Electricity consumption soars in 2024 with tech and EV growth

Driven by the rapid development of mobile internet, big data and cloud computing, electricity consumption for internet data services increased by 33.0 percent year-on-year during the first half of this year, according to the China Electricity Council.

The rapid growth of electric vehicles led to a 63.7 percent year-on-year increase in electricity consumption for charging and battery swapping services in the same period, said Jiang Debin, deputy director of statistics and data center of the council.

It is expected that total electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, will grow by approximately 6.5 percent year-on-year for the whole year 2024. The combined new installed capacity of grid-connected wind and solar power is projected to reach around 300 million kilowatts, with the cumulative installed capacity share exceeding 40 percent for the first time, he commented.

Amid the country's ambitious goal of achieving carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, it is expected that the power industry will continue investing in the development of new energy sources, he added.