China's power consumption tops 8 trillion kWh in Q1-3: NEA

China's total electricity consumption exceeded 8 trillion kilowatt-hours in the first three quarters with stable grid operations, while residential power use edged down due to a high base from last year's extreme heat, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said Friday.

Total power consumption reached 8.07 trillion kilowatt-hours from January to September, up 3.9 percent year on year. Electricity use in the primary, secondary and tertiary industries grew 3.4 percent, 4.1 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively, while residential electricity consumption fell 0.3 percent.

"In the January-September period, residential electricity consumption declined. This was mainly because 2025 was China's most extreme high-temperature year since 1961, creating a significantly high baseline for cooling loads last summer. During this year's summer period, the national average temperature was lower than a year earlier, with more typhoons making landfall, staying longer and bringing broader rain belts. The cooler temperatures reduced cooling loads in the third quarter, driving down residential electricity use," said Xing Yiteng, deputy director of the Department of Development and Planning at the National Energy Administration.

Power usage patterns showed a clear divergence between old and new growth drivers, with high-tech sectors becoming the primary drivers of overall electricity growth. In the first three quarters, declines in industrial electricity consumption were mainly concentrated in real estate and energy-intensive industries, with cement, glass and construction down 8.1 percent, 10.7 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.

By contrast, electricity use in high-tech and equipment manufacturing combined expanded by nearly 10 percent, while internet data services and EV charging and battery-swapping services jumped 41.6 percent and 55.4 percent, respectively, maintaining strong momentum.

China's power consumption tops 8 trillion kWh in Q1-3: NEA

Research, development and preparations for the crewed lunar landing phase of China's lunar exploration program is advancing steadily, according to the seventh Manned Space Symposium held in Beijing on Saturday.

Uncrewed test flights of the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and the Lanyue lunar lander are planned ahead of the crewed moon landing mission, the symposium said.

Under the previously announced plan, two Long March-10 carrier rockets will launch the Lanyue lunar lander and the Mengzhou spaceship in succession, then the two will conduct a rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit.

The Mengzhou can carry three astronauts between Earth and lunar orbit, with two of them riding the Lanyue lunar lander between lunar orbit and the lunar surface.

Aiming at the set goal of landing Chinese astronauts on the Moon, the program will subsequently carry out, as planned, the Long March-10 carrier rocket technology verification flight, the first flights of the Mengzhou spaceship and the Lanyue lunar lander, and important missions such as Chang'e-7.

"We will use the unmanned Lanyue lunar lander to verify all the key technologies throughout the entire crewed process as much as possible - including launch, entering the lunar orbit, rendezvous and docking with the Mengzhou spacecraft, landing and staying on the lunar surface, taking off again and re-docking with the crewed spaceship Mengzhou, so as to make sure the crewed flight will be safe and reliable," said Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China's Manned Space Program and chief designer of the lunar exploration project.

China steadily advances lunar exploration program