"China leads the world in term of hydroelectric power, with
approximately 400 million exploitable kilowatts and annual
hydropower production of about 170 million kwh," said Zhang Guobao,
vice minister of the State Development and Reform Commission
(SDRC).
Addressing a United Nations seminar on sustainable development
of hydropower, Zhang said that China's hydropower resources,
equivalent to 60 billion tons of standard coal, are the country's
second largest energy resource. Coal is the largest.
China's gross installed hydropower generating capacity has
topped 100 million kilowatts this year, accounting for a quarter of
gross installed electric power capacity and providing some 20
percent of the country's total electric power.
Currently, thermal power generation constitutes about 70 percent
of the nation's power supply. Cities in south China, normally more
heavily reliant on hydroelectricity, resort to thermal power when
they suffer power shortages during the dry season.
With China's sustained and rapid economic development, the
demand for petroleum, coal and electric power remains high.
In 2003, China ranked third in the world in term of energy
production, with an output of 1.6 billion tons of standard coal. It
was second in energy consumption, using 1.7 billion tons of
standard coal.
Hydroelectric power provides one-fifth of world's electric
power, said Zhang. Unlike coal, it is a renewable energy source
that can be tapped on a large scale.
China will give priority to hydroelectric projects as part of
its sustainable development strategy to reduce pollution in the
future, Zhang said.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn October 28, 2004)