Thanks to rapid development over the past five years, China has become the world's second-largest country in power capacity and consumption, according to a related meeting of the State Power Company, which closed in Guiyang Saturday.
The nation's overall installed capacity of power stations totals 319 million kw, and the power generation capacity reaches 1.37 trillion kwh, both ranking second in the world, sources said.
Over the next five years, China will connect most power grids across the country, except those in the Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, and Taiwan and Hainan provinces, into an integrated whole and therefore form a regular power market with fair competition
The State Power Company will invest some 600 billion yuan (about US$72 billion) in the next five years in the electricity industry, with 60 percent of the investment going into construction of power grids, sources said.
The integrated power grid project includes two sub-projects: power transmission from energy-rich western regions to eastern regions, and mutual power transmission between north and south China.
(Xinhua 04/29/2001)
