According to official statistics, the electricity demand will maintain a 5 to 6 percent annual growth rate throughout the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) period.

"In 2005, the country's total electricity consumption will hit 1.65 trillion kilowatt-hours," predicted Ni Jixiang, a senior official with the State Power Corp of China.

By then, Ni claimed, the country's installed capacity of electricity generation will have risen to 370 million kilowatts, representing an increase of 56 million kilowatts over this year's capacity.

Ni provided this forecast yesterday at a seminar on the development strategy for China's power industry in the early 21st century. The seminar, held in Beijing, was hosted by Xinhua News Agency and sponsored by the State Power Corp of China.

Despite the fact that China is now the world's second largest country in terms of electricity production and consumption, the per capita figure is less than half of the world's average, said Wang Likuang, president of China Economic Information Agency.

Additionally, a total of 28 million people in the country still do not have access to electricity either because they live in remote areas uncovered by the current power grids or because they just cannot afford it.

To change the situation, the country is investing heavily in upgrading its power grids while making great efforts to crack down on the unauthorized electricity surcharges levied by some local electricity supply authorities, in the hope of increasing general access to electric power.

A total of 150 billion yuan (US$18.1 billion) is expected to be invested in the countrywide power grid upgrading project over the next three years. A similar sum of money has already been employed in power grid upgrading projects that have been taking place since 1998.

The power grid upgrades are only part of the country's plan to develop power industry in the next five years.

Ni said the State Power Corp of China has outlined the key sectors of the nation's power industry that will see development during the 10th Five-Year Plan period, with priority given to the readjustment of power source structures.

Hydro-power will occupy a privileged place on the agenda, Ni explained. Hydropower development efforts will be concentrated in projects located on the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle and lower reaches of the Hongshui River and Lancang River, and in the Wujiang River basin.

In a move that demonstrates the country's concern for the environment, China also plans to build more wind power stations over the next few years.

(China Daily 12/25/2000)