China’s thermal power generation in September rose 8.9% from a year earlier, statistics bureau data showed on Friday.

Thermal power generation, which refers to generation largely from coal and some gas-fired power plants, was 545.1 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

That was stronger than the 6% rise in power generation from all sources to 802.4 billion kWh.

The NBS data reflects power generation from industrial enterprises that have annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million).

Thermal power generation comes mostly from coal in China with a small portion from natural gas-fired power plants.

Hydropower fell 14.6% from a year earlier to 119.9 billion kWh.

During the first nine months of the year, thermal power output was up 1.9% from a year earlier at 4.74 trillion kWh, while overall power generation rose 5.4% from the previous year, the data showed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)