BEIJING -- China will continue to face tight power supply in the latter half of this year due to steadily rising demand and the uneven spread of power generation throughout the country, according to an industry report released Friday.

Parts of the country will experience persistent power shortages, and some other regions will see periodical strained supplies in the second half, says the report issued by the China Electricity Council.

It estimates the annual power consumption will increase by 12 percent year-on-year to 4.7 trillion kilowatts.

"The unbalanced spread of newly-built power generation capacity, uncoordinated grids construction, and less newly-built coal-fired power capacity has contributed to the tight supply," the report says.

It predicts coal prices will continue to rise and will exacerbate the difficulties faced by the power generation companies.

China's power companies have been reluctant to boost production, as their profit margins have been affected by the government's tight price caps on energy-related products, including power, fuel and gas.

This has led to severe power shortages in the first half of this year, which was also resulted from the nation's campaign to save energy and reduce emissions.

Coal-fired power accounts for more than 70 percent of the nation's power use.

The report estimates power shortages will hit between 25 million kilowatts and 30 million kilowatts this winter.