China added 90 gigawatts in new power capacity this year, equivalent to the size of the UK's entire electricity grid, the Financial Times reported. The capacity figure has not been officially announced but is based on calculations by several consultancies. New capacity could be even higher if there is a repeat of 2006 which saw 34GW added in the last months of the year to account for power stations built illegally. There was a record 102GW in new capacity in 2006. Official numbers are available for power demand, which has risen 16.2% year-on-year, up from 13.7% in 2006. Demand is driven by energy-intensive industries such as steel, aluminum and cement. Around 85% of the new capacity is coal-fired. This statistic played a key role in the International Energy Agency's prediction that China will overtake the US to become the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases this year.
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