The company, the parent of Asia's largest independent power generator Huaneng International, plans to build a generating capacity of 60 million kilowatts by then, on the back of its current 30.1-million-kilowatt capacity, said company Chairman Li Xiaopeng yesterday.

Huaneng plans to reach the ambitious target, equivalent to one-fifth of the nation's total present capacity, using large generators (with a capacity more than 600,000 kilowatts each) that have yet to be constructed, company officials said.

As the first step towards the goal, the company will build new power plants with a combined capacity of 1.5 million kilowatts this year, and plants with a 5.3-million-kilowatt capacity in 2004, Li said at the company's annual conference.

In the years thereafter, the company expects to annually launch construction of generators capable of churning out 7.5 million kilowatts.

By 2020, capacity is expected to hit 100 million to 120 million kilowatts, accounting for what will be 12 percent of the nation's total, Li said.

"Our ultimate goal is to make Huaneng an internationally competitive company," said Li in his speech.

"We will not only reinforce our strong position (among other companies) in generating capacity, revenues, cash flow, asset quality and financing, but will present ourselves as one of the top companies in the world."

What has given Li confidence is the ongoing reform in the sector. The reform aims to break up the monopoly of the State Power Corp of China. Under one measure the government transferred all State Power's generators to five power groups, including Huaneng, for free.

Huaneng received generators with a capacity more than 12 million kilowatts, including those under construction and those in which Huaneng has a minor stake.

Speaking at the conference, Li said the company is expected to post profit growth of more than 8 per cent this year, on a turnover of 43.5 billion yuan (US$5.3 billion).

Last year, the company recorded a turnover of 37.1 billion yuan (US$4.5 billion). It did not reveal the profit for last year.

Huaneng plans to raise its electricity output by 7 per cent year-on-year, to 162.9 billion kilowatt hours, in 2003.

In addition to its major power-generation business, the company is also expected to launch non-power businesses, in such sectors as finance, transportation, information technology and renewable energy.

The company is "actively preparing for the launch of an insurance company and a fund joint venture," Li said.

By late last year, Huaneng Group had invested over 1 billion yuan (US$120 million) to raise its stake in Great Wall Securities from about 10 percent to 51 percent.

(China Daily January 23, 2003)