China's power consumption reached 1,015.4 TWh in August, up 5% from a year earlier, marking the second straight month above the 1,000 TWh threshold after a historical breakthrough in July, according to data released by the National Energy Administration (NEA) on September 23.

High temperatures and active economic activity jointly drove stronger electricity demand across the three major sectors, underscoring the resilience of China's economy.

The primary sector, mainly agriculture, recorded a 9.7% year-on-year increase to consume 16.4 TWh of electricity in August. Power consumption by modern agricultural facilities, such as intelligent greenhouses and cold chain logistics systems, surged, reflecting the growing electrification of agricultural modernization.

The secondary sector, primarily industrial activities, consumed 598.1 TWh of electricity, marking a 5% growth on the year. Power use in high-tech and equipment manufacturing industries increased sharply. In January-July, electricity consumption in the new energy vehicle manufacturing industry jumped 25.7% year on year, highlighting robust growth in the high-end manufacturing and green industries.

The tertiary sector, largely services, used 204.6 TWh of electricity, up 7.2% from the year prior. Electricity use in the information transmission, software, and IT services industries rose 15.5%, while that of the internet services industry surged 28.2%, making the digital economy an increasingly powerful engine for economic development.

Explosive growth in computing demand also pushed up electricity use at data centers. In the first half of 2025, power consumption by China's data centers accounted for 18% of total tertiary-sector usage, up 3 percentage points (pps) from H1 2024, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

This trend is closely linked to the rapid expansion of AI large model training and applications as well as the spread of 5G technology. Energy use from Alibaba Cloud's global data centers is projected to soar 11 times by 2032 compared with 2022, said Chairman and CEO Wu Yongming.

For the residential segment, power consumption in August saw a 2.4% increase year on year to 196.3 TWh. Although the growth rate was lower than that of industrial use, above-normal temperatures drove strong demand for air conditioning, supporting overall consumption.

Power generation trends diverged by source. In August, coal-fired power generation rose 1.7% year on year, while hydropower output fell 10.1% due to low water inflows. Wind, solar, and nuclear power generation increased 20.2%, 15.9%, and 5.9%, respectively. This structural shift reflected an accelerating transition toward cleaner energy. In the first eight months, power generation from non-fossil energy accounted for more than 35% of the total, up about 3 pps from a year earlier.

Rising electricity demand and emerging consumption patterns boosted the power equipment industry, with many enterprises reporting rapid growth.

High power consumption also tested the stability of the power system. In August, China's peak power demand hit 1.32 TW, up 6.3% from a year ago, according to the NEA. Even under such pressure, measures such as cross-regional power transmission and demand response mechanisms helped prevent large-scale power shortages.

These achievements were supported by accumulated investments in power grid infrastructure between 2020 and 2025. During the period, China added over 20,000 kilometers of ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission lines, effectively equivalent to rebuilding another "West-to-East" electricity transmission network.

Despite the robust uptrend, challenges remain. On one hand, frequent extreme weather continues to strain power supply. This summer, many provinces recorded sustained temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, pushing regional power demand to record highs. On the other hand, the rising share of renewable energy increased system balancing costs, widening the peak-valley power price gap to 1.2 yuan/kWh.

Looking ahead, China needs to continue advancing the integration of "source-grid-load-storage", improving market-oriented electricity pricing, and enhancing cross-regional coordination to ensure both energy security and high-quality economic development.