Singapore (Platts)–7Jan2015/635 am EST/1135 GMT The traditional relationship between China’s real GDP growth, expansion in electricity consumption, and coal demand is now broken, a phenomenon that began to emerge over 2012-2014, according to a new report by the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Chinese power consumption over January-November 2014 ticked up by around 3.9% from the corresponding months of 2013, but thermal power production — fueled by natural gas and coal — declined 0.3% during the periods of comparison, based on government data, IEEFA analyst Tim Buckley wrote. Hydroelectricity, followed by “other” sources of power generation accounted for the rise in power production to 4,975 TWh in January-November, from 4,788 TWh a year ago. The annual growth in Chinese coal demand halved to 4-6% in 2012 and 2013 from around 10% over the decade to 2011. In 2014, coal demand actually declined by 2.1%, the report […]