UPDATE 1-China Aug power output growth fastest in 15 mths

* Aug total output up 9.3 pct on yr, fastest in 15 mths

* Aug output up for 3rd mth in a row, hit new peak

BEIJING, Sept 11 - China's power generation increased 9.3 percent from a year earlier to a record high, its fastest growth in 15 months, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

It marked the third monthly rise in a row as the world's second-largest electricity market recovered more from slumps in late 2008 and early 2009, on hotter-than-ususal weather and over a relatively low base last summer when a coal shortage caused a supply squeeze.

August output was 344.32 billion kilowatt hours, 2.5 percent above July's rate, the data showed.

Thermal power, making up nearly 80 percent of the total, rose 10.5 percent last month from the year-ago level, while hydro climbed a modest 3.7 percent. Nuclear was down 2.3 percent.

For the first eight months, thermal power was still 1.5 percent below the year-ago level, the data showed.

China recorded near double-digit annual declines in late 2008 as its power-guzzling heavy industries were hit hard by the global economic crisis.