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Over the first four months as a whole, power generation reached 1.799 trillion kWh, up 0.9 percent compared with the same period of last year.
Much of the increase has been down to rising hydropower volumes, which rose 10 percent in April and 15.5 percent over the first four months. Thermal electricity, generated almost entirely by coal-fired capacity, slipped 5.9 percent in April and 3.2 percent over the first four months as a whole.
China has been trying to cut coal-fired power consumption in a bid to improve air quality and encourage the use of cleaner sources of electricity, including renewables and nuclear.