A Chinese official said Thursday the country would face no
electricity power shortfalls generally in the second half of the
year.
Zhang Guobao, vice chairman of the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC), said power supply could meet demand even
in power-hungry areas such as the economically dynamic Zhejiang
Province in east China.
As a matter of fact, there were already no big power shortfalls
in the first six months, he told a press conference at the
Information Office of the State Council.
Zhang said the government will accelerate the efforts to close
small coal-fired unit that cost excessive energies and produce
heavy pollution in an industrial reshuffling.
Coal-fired generation units with a combined capacity of 15
million kw will be closed in the coming five years, he
revealed.
But he refuted any power gluts existence in China, saying the
nation's power shortages have only eased up.
China's total power installed capacity has reached 531 million
kilowatts, and more than 70 million kw of newly installed capacity
is expected to be put into production this year.
In the second half of the year, China's power supply and demand
will be basically balanced, and retort the tight situation that has
continued since June 2002, said Zhang.
About 250 million kw of power station projects are under
construction in China. The newly installed capacity amounted to
22.39 million kw from January to April this year, and a total
installed capacity of 29.55 million kw projects were approved from
January to May.
Zhang said that China's power supply for the first four months
has reached 817.5 billion kw/hour, up 11.1 percent over the same
period of last year, including hydroelectricity of 92.7 billion
kw/hour, coal-fired power of 704.9 billion kwh and nuclear power of
16.6 billion kwh.
The electricity consumption for the first four months accounts
to 846.6 billion kw/hour, a rise of 12.33 percent year-on-year.
(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2006)