China 2010 power demand to grow by 7 pct -Xinhua

BEIJING, Jan 18 (Reuters) - China's total power consumption in 2010 will hit 3.9 trillion kilowatt hours, up 7 percent from 2009, Xinhua quoted a top power official as saying on Monday.

'The national power supply and demand will remain comparatively loose throughout this year despite some regional and sectional strains,' Wang Xudong, chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, told a working meeting, Xinhua said.

Wang also revealed that total power demand in 2009 grew 6.44 percent to 3.66 trillion kilowatt hours and power output in December expanded by 26.03 percent from a year earlier.

China's electricity output by power generators, with capacity of 6,000 kilowatts or above, increased 6.66 percent from a year earlier to 3,596.4 billion kilowatt hours in 2009, the China Electricity Council said early this month.

(Reporting by Eadie Chen and Tom Miles; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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