The Chinese government's investment in research and development of green technologies exceeded 10 billion yuan (1.47 billion U.S. dollars) for the 2006-2010 period, but the country is still lagging in the field, a government official said Thursday.

Zhang Laiwu, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, said at a press conference in Beijing, that China had developed key technologies that could cut greenhouse gas emissions.

China produced more solar cells than any other country, and would soon complete its first MW-level tower-type solar thermal power plant, said Zhang.

It also had installed wind power capacity of 25,000 MW.

To reduce carbon emissions, coal-fired power plants had adopted a new technology that reduced the consumption of coal in power generation to 298g/KWH.

Currently applied in plants with a total installed capacity of 80 million KW, the technology could save 28.4 tons of coal each year, he said.

China had applied energy-saving technologies to traditional industries including steel, power, building materials, chemicals and agriculture, which had enhanced their competitiveness, he said.

China had also issued supportive policies for energy-saving and new-energy industries.

More than 1.6 million LED lights were being used in 21 cities in a pilot program to promote their use, which would save more than 164 million KWH of electricity annually, he said.

Despite the progress, Zhang said, "China still relatively lags behind in terms of green technologies."

Zhang pointed out that to meet the five-year goal to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent at the end of this year, China must rely on innovation.

Another official from the ministry, Liu Min, said at the press conference that China had successfully established research and development platforms for technologies regarding the production of dynamic systems and key parts of electric cars.

She said this was the result of a decade-long national program to develop electric cars, which had received 2 billion yuan of government funding.

A pilot program to promote energy-efficient and new-energy vehicles had been implemented in 25 cities, and the government had provided subsidies of almost 1 billion yuan for the purchase of 5,000 vehicles.

Liu said China had drawn up 42 industrial standards and obtained more than 1,600 patents in the industry of energy-efficient and new-energy vehicles.

As the deadline for the goal approaches, local governments in several provinces this month ordered power companies to cut power to factories in energy-intensive industries such as steel and cement.