NEA chief: Expansion rate of energy use set to slow

Annual rises in energy consumption are expected to slow as the Chinese economy continues at its "new normal" pace of growth, according to the country's new head of the National Energy Administration.

Growth of average consumption of primary energy is expected to drop to 3.4 percent per year through 2020 and about 2.3 percent by 2030, said Nur Bekri, head of the NEA, in a report in the organization's in-house publication.

Bekri, the former chairman of the resources rich Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in northwestern China, was appointed as the head of the NEA and vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission in December.