BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- China's electricity output is expected to grow by 14 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2007, but demand continues to outrun supply in some areas, according to the nation's top economic planner.
Power output will reach 1.45 trillion kwh between January and June, said a report released by the Economy Operation Department of the National Development and Research Commission (NDRC).
The output increase will help meet surging power demand in the world's second-largest energy consumer, but power crunches continues to affect provinces like Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hainan, Shanxi, and Liaoning, said the NDRC.
Earlier Xinhua reported the southern bustling province of Guangdong was facing major electricity shortages for the fifth summer in a row.
"In April, we were short of four million kwh of power, far above the 2.55-3.69 million kwh predicted," said an official in charge of electricity resources management.
China generated 701 billion kwh of electricity in the first quarter of the year. The output represented an increase of 15.5 percent from a year ago, 4.4 percentage points higher than the same period last year, according to the report.
Electricity used by industry grew 17 percent in the first three months, said the report, adding that industrial power consumption accounted for 76 percent of the nation's total power consumption, up 3.4 percentage points from 2000.