As the explosive growth of artificial intelligence drives a surge in power demand—with just a five-second high-definition video generated by AI consuming as much electricity as charging 10 mobile phones, China’s National Energy Administration is calling for energy conservation.
The NEA stated that China’s total electricity consumption and peak load reached record highs by the end of 2025. Looking ahead into the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the nation’s annual increment in electricity consumption alone is projected to reach approximately 600 billion kilowatt-hours, an increase equivalent to the annual power consumption of a medium-sized economy.
A large proportion of China's oil and gas comes from the world market, and officials have stated that Beijing will maintain a diversified energy import strategy to ensure supply chain resilience.
The authorities have called for energy conservation, saying they will quickly improve policy mechanisms to stimulate energy-saving and carbon-reducing capabilities in production and daily life.
China's energy production is concentrated in the western region, while consumption is mainly concentrated in the eastern region.
“The western region will not only transmit electricity, coal, and gas to other regions, but also tokens in the future,” said Wan Jingsong, deputy director of China’s National Energy Administration.
