China Expects Steady Growth of Power IndustryChina is set to improve the investment environment for the power industry and maintain appropriate construction scale of power facilities to ensure a balanced power supply in five years.Total installed power generating capacity will reach 390 million kw by the year 2005, according to the 10th five-year (2001- 2005) plan for the power industry the State Economic and Trade Commission published Thursday. The plan analyzed the conditions and market environment that China's power industry will face in the coming five years, and set guiding principles and development targets for the industry's development and restructuring. Based on the predicted economic growth rate, the demand for power throughout China will grow at an average annual rate of five percent in five years, and by 2005 the annual power output is to top 1.75 trillion kw/h, which is capable of maintaining a basically balanced supply and demand, according to the plan. Substantial progress will be made in the link up of national power networks, and alternating and direct current transmission wire will exceed 230,000 kilometers, with the total transforming capacity reaching 670 million kva and the reliability of urban power supply surpassing 99.9 percent. In the structure of power sources, China will actively develop hydropower, build thermal power plants in a rational way, and appropriately develop natural gas and nuclear power projects. Efforts will also be made to restructure the layout of power projects in the country's eastern and western parts, and to further expand power supply from the west to the east. The research and manufacturing of power equipment, environment protection and electrification in rural areas are also listed as key areas for development in the plan. In the past five years, China's power industry has maintained fast development momentum, with the installed generating capacity growing by eight percent annually on average, which basically solved the protracted problem of acute shortage in power supply. By the end of 2000, China's installed generating capacity had exceeded 319 million kw, and total electricity output last year reached 1.37 trillion kw/h, both ranking second in the world. |
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