China's solar power capacity reached 671.47 GW by the end of April, marking a 52.4% rise year on year, according to data released by the National Energy Administration (NEA) on May 23.
In January-April, China added 60.11 GW of solar capacity, up 24.43% year on year. In April, the expansion shrank by 1.91% year on year to 14.37 GW, following a 32% year-on-year decline in March.
Solar build has diminished since March, as fast growth in photovoltaic module manufacturing capacity raised expectations of fiercer competition and lower prices, leading to growing wait-and-see sentiment for installation.
Meanwhile, China's wind power installation jumped 20.6% year on year to 458.03 GW by end-April, the NEA data showed.
Wind has exceeded hydropower, which came in at 425.15 GW (+2.1% YoY) by end-April, as the third largest power source in terms of capacity, after solar and thermal.
Thermal power capacity totaled 1,398.02 GW across China by the end of April, up 4.0% year on year. Thermal power, mainly coal based, made up 46.5% of China's total power generation capacity, which stood at 3,009.63 GW, a 14.1% rise.
More coal was consumed for power generation in January-April, as the NEA data showed an average coal consumption of 296.3 g to produce 1 KWh of electricity, up 1.6 g from a year earlier.
China's power generation from all sources reached 2,599.4 TWh in January-April, up 9.6% year on year.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo)
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