China's thermal power generation maintained essentially steady year-on-year growth in June, while output from clean energy sources accelerated sharply.

Output of thermal electricity, mainly coal-fired, reached 493.94 TWh in June, up 1.1% year on year (YoY), slightly lower than the 1.2% increase in May, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The output figure was also up 7% month on month.

Over January-June, China's thermal power generation reached 2,940.99 TWh, falling 2.4% YoY, contracting 0.7 percentage point in the January-May period, as per NBS data.

As summer demand kicked in, thermal power remained the backbone of China's power supply. However, the strong output from renewable sources, especially solar and nuclear, curbed the growth pace of thermal power. Solar generation surged nearly 20% from a year ago, while nuclear expanded over 10%.

Hydropower continued to decline on a yearly basis due to uneven rainfall, especially in the southwest, but the contraction eased from May. Wind power growth slowed yet remained positive.

In June, Inner Mongolia, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Shanxi were the top five thermal power producers, reaching 50.56 TWh (-0.4% YoY), 42.36 TWh (+8% YoY), 41.23 TWh (+1.9% YoY), 37.9 TWh (-10% YoY) and 29.07 TWh (-3.6% YoY), respectively.

Top provinces in cumulative electricity generation were Inner Mongolia, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Xinjiang and Shanxi over January-June, with output of 272.76 TWh (-7.1% YoY), 232.74 TWh (+1.9% YoY), 227.15 TWh (-5.4% YoY), 226.31 TWh (-6.9% YoY), 185.05 TWh (-3.7% YoY), and 168.25 TWh (-5% YoY), respectively.

June saw 17 or 54.8% of the provinces or regions register YoY increases in thermal power generation, which is clearly lower than 64.5% in the previous month. Notable growth rates were observed in Hainan (+28.8% YoY), Shanghai (+21.5% YoY), Fujian (+20.2% YoY), Zhejiang (+19.8% YoY), Sichuan (+16.9% YoY), and Gansu (+15.6% YoY).

During January-June, 12 provinces or regions recorded YoY growths in thermal power generation, constituting nearly 40% of the nation's total. Xizang (+22.6% YoY), Hunan (+14.2% YoY), Guizhou (+11.7% YoY), Gansu (+9.5% YoY), Liaoning (+5.8% YoY), and Zhejiang (+5.7% YoY) reported the largest growth rates.

The China Meteorological Administration forecasts that July temperatures across most of the country are expected to range from near-normal to above-normal levels.

Key regions such as Heilongjiang, Jilin, northern Liaoning, eastern and parts of northwestern Inner Mongolia, most of Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei, southern Shaanxi, Chongqing, eastern Sichuan, western Gansu, northwestern Qinghai, Xinjiang, and northern Xizang are forecast to experience temperatures 1-2°C higher than average.

With the main rain belt moving northward, southern China is expected to enter a widespread heatwave, which may boost daily coal consumption at power plants, further reinforcing the stabilizing role of coal-fired generation during the peak summer demand season.