Chinese coal consumption continued to fall by 4.7 percent in 2016, the third consecutive year in which coal consumption has declined, according to Chinese governmental data on Thursday.
This represents the biggest year-on-year drop since 2014 when a 2.9 percent decrease was seen and in 2015 a 3.7 percent increase was recorded.
Moreover, the share of coal in China’s energy mix continues to decline, falling to 62 percent in 2016 from 64 percent in 2015.
On the supply side, China produced 9 percent less coal in 2016 than 2015, bringing total coal production down to 3.41 billion tonnes.
Lin Boqiang, the Dean of China Institute for Energy Policy Studies at Xiamen University said in a statement that coal consumption in the country is still positively linked with economic growth.
'The decrease of China’s coal consumption in 2016 was a result of change in economic structure and an increase in clean energy. In any case, China’s energy system will continue to decarbonize, and the share of coal in China’s energy mix is going to shrink,” Bogiang added.
The statistics show a mixed picture for China's continuing energy transition as it moves towards a low-carbon economy.
'In the country, solar energy installed capacity grew 81.6 percent to 77 gigawatts (GW) in 2016, and wind grew 13.2 percent to 149 GW,' according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics 2016 Statistical Communique on Economic and Social Development.
In addition a total of 57.1 terrawatt-hours generated by wind and solar was wasted last year, equivalent to the total annual generation of Denmark and Ireland in 2015.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
gulsen.cagatay@aa.com.tr