BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) - China's fossil-fuelled power generation rose 3.1% year-on-year in April, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, as wind and nuclear output weakened.
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"The sustained growth in thermal power generation mainly stems from weak wind power output and scheduled maintenance activities for nuclear units," said Bing Han, senior principal research analyst for China power and renewables at S&P Global Energy.
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Wind power generation fell 5% year-on-year in April, while nuclear output dropped 8.7%, the data showed.
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Thermal power generation, which is mostly from coal with a small amount from natural gas, rose 3.6% over the first four months as a whole, compared with 2025.
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For the rest of 2026, coal is expected to rise to fill the gap left by gas power because of tight LNG supply, Han said.
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S&P expects coal-fired power to rise 1.5% and gas power generation to drop 12% in 2026, while thermal generation overall remains flat with the previous year.
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Overall power generation was 744 billion kWh in April, up 2.6% compared with the same period of last year.
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Over the first four months as a whole, power generation reached 3.12 trillion kWh, up 3.3% compared with the same period of last year.
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The National Bureau of Statistics data may underestimate total power generation as it reflects output from industrial enterprises with revenue above 20 million yuan ($2.94 million), excluding some small-scale renewables.
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Hydropower volumes rose 12.2% in April and rose 9.9% over the first four months.
Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair
Source: Reuters