BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- China's power sector reported reduction in coal consumed to generate per kilowatt hour and sulfur dioxide emission on the whole, according to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC).

    The coal used to generate per kwh dropped by nine grams to 332 grams in the first five month this year from a year earlier, the SERC said.

    It stated the whole sector discharged 5.4 percent less sulfur dioxide during the period from the previous year despite a 17.46 percent surge in coal consumption.

    The country's power output reached 1.47 trillion kwh in the first six months, 15.9 percent higher from a year ago, while and its consumption rose 15.84 percent to 1.5 trillion kwh.

    You Quan, chairman of the SERC, however, said China's power industry still face grave situation in further cutting energy consumption and pollutant emission despite the little progress.

    China's coal-powered plants accounted for 78 percent of its total power generating capacity of 600 million kw in 2006, while the clean hydropower accounted for only 20 percent.

    The Chinese government has been striving to close down the more polluting and energy-guzzling small coal-fired power generation units to reduce energy consumption and pollutant emissions.

    "The large amount of small coal-fired power plants do have strict management on pollutant discharge and there is a long way to go to tackle the problem," You said.

    China has shut down 156 small coal-fired generation units with a combined generating capacity of 5.5 million kilowatts in the first half of 2007, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

    The shut-down will save 8.5 million tons of coal every year and cut the annual emission of sulfur dioxide by 20,000 tons and that of carbon dioxide by 17 million tons, said the NDRC.

    The energy consumption to generate per unit of gross domestic product fell 1.33 percent last year, but the power consumption per unit of GDP rose 2.75 percent.

    Industrial output of the sectors, including power, steel, oil refining, chemicals, construction materials and metals, grew by 20.1 percent in the first six months, 3.6 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

    The six sectors consume 70 percent of the nation's energy for industry and release the same percentage of sulfur dioxide.

    "The rapid expansion of the six high-polluting and energy-guzzling sectors will hinder the performance improvement of the power industry," said You.