MNI BRIEF: China's AI Growth Needs Green Energy

China’s rapid development of AI cannot happen without the supply of reliable green electricity, Du Zhongming, director general of the Department of Electric Power at the National Energy Administration, told reporters on Tuesday.

In the past five years, advanced manufacturing industries such as electric vehicles and digital sectors like artificial intelligence, had driven a rapid increase in electricity demand, Du said. 

Looking ahead, authorities's policy stance would shift from "access to electricity" towards "optimising electricity," Du added.

China’s industrial electricity demand growth is likely to remain subdued through the rest of the year, as tighter usage rules aimed at curbing consumption make earlier forecasts of around 6% economy-wide growth increasingly difficult to achieve, local analysts told MNI. (See MNI: China's Energy Efficiency Push Squeezes Demand)