China shut small coal-fired power generators with a total capacity of 14.38 million kw last year, the country's electricity and economic regulators said on Tuesday.

According to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission and the National Development and Reform Commission, the figure accounted for 28.76 percent of the total capacity the country planned to close during the 11th Five Year Program (2006-2010).

Most of the closures were in the southern Guangdong province, the eastern provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Shandong and the central Henan province.

The country's six biggest power companies closed 192 coal-fired power generators in 2007. With a total capacity of 8.78 million kw, they accounted for around 60 percent of the total closed capacity nationwide.

China Datang Corporation alone saw 2.6 million kw of its generation capacity eliminated last year.

Small units with a capacity below 100,000 kw burnt 400 million tons of coal last year, more than 30 percent of the total coal consumption by power plants nationwide. They produced 5.4 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2006, nearly 40 percent of total emissions from the country's power sector.

The government's effort to make energy use more efficient and cut pollution contributed to the slumping energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP).

Energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan ($1,457) of GDP stood at 1.16 tons of coal equivalent in 2007, down 3.66 percent from 2006.

By 2010, China has set a target of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and major pollutant emission by 10 percent from the 2005 levels.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2008)