China's electricity production growth is slowing because of government policies to conserve energy and curb demand, said an executive from State Grid Corp of China, the country's largest power distributor.

Output rose 14.16 percent to 2.42 billion megawatt-hours by November 20, one percentage point slower than a year earlier, Xie Juchen, general manager of Zhong Neng Power Industry Fuel Corp, a State Grid fuel-purchasing unit, said.

China's government wants to limit growth in energy use in the world's fastest-expanding economy. Premier Wen Jiabao in March said the nation aimed to cut the amount of energy used to produce each unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent by 2010.

The nation's coal consumption climbed 12 percent to 1.013 billion metric tons during the period, including 930 million tons burned for power generation and 88 million tons for heating, Xie said.

Thermal coal supply for power stations is stable and electricity generators' reserves of the fuel are at record levels. More than 130 million tons of coal production capacity will come on stream next year, while 73.29 million tons of coal will be needed to run 75,370 megawatts of new electricity generating capacity, he said.

Growth in thermal coal demand will slow to an annual average of 6.3 percent between this year and 2010, from more than 10 percent in the past five years, Yang Xianfeng, secretary general of the China Coal Trade & Development Association said.

China's coal imports will increase to 35 million tons this year, after the government relaxed curbs on shipments of the fuel, Xie said. That would be a gain of 34 percent.

Source:未知