East China’s Zhejiang Province put its first grid-side energy storage power station into operation. The station has a storage capacity of 24 megawatt hours and a maximum discharge power of 12 megawatts. It can store excess electricity when power demand is low and discharge it during peak hours. Photo: cnsphoto

China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, is likely to grow by 6 to 7 percent year on year in 2021, according to the China Electricity Council (CEC).

Power supply and demand will generally maintain a balance in China this year, though some areas may face power supply pressure during peak hours, the electricity council said.

It also predicted that the share of installed capacity of power generated from non-fossil sources would continue to expand.

The installed capacity of power generation in China is expected to reach 2.37 billion kilowatts by the end of 2021, up around 7.7 percent year on year, with power generated from non-fossil sources accounting for 47.3 percent, 2.5 percentage points higher than that of 2020.

The CEC said the installed capacities of both wind and solar power will see an increase by about 3 percentage points from the level at the end of 2020.

China has vowed to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25 percent by 2030, and bring its total installed capacity of wind and solar power to more than 1.2 billion kilowatts.