SHANGHAI: China's power generation, a bellwether for the country's economic activity, rose 0.6 percent in November from a year before, with the pace of growth decelerating for the third month as manufacturing activity slackened.
However, total electricity output of 448.7 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in November marks a 0.92 percent gain from the preceding month, thanks to higher heating demand.
Total power generation in the first 11 months of 2014 rose 3.9 percent from a year ago to 4.97 trillion kWh, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.
China's industrial output rose by a less-than-expected 7.2 percent in November from a year earlier, while fixed-asset investment grew 15.8 percent in the first 11 months of the year.
The slowdown in industrial activity, which accounts for about 90 percent of China's electricity consumption, has forced power plants to reduce run rates and hit thermal coal demand, causing inventories to swell.
Power output from thermal plants fell 4.2 percent from a year earlier to 345.5 billion kWh, data from the statistics bureau showed, while hydroelectric power jumped nearly 35 percent.
Coal stocks held by major power plants across the country were sufficient for about 29 days of consumption, while inventories at top Qinghuangdao port rose 10 percent from the end of November to 7.1 million tonnes last Friday, according to data from industry website Coalstudy.com.
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