China's consumption of electric power to increase 12 percent in 2005

BEIJING, Dec 17, 2004 -- Xinhua

China's consumption of electric power is forecast of reach about 2,425 billion KWH in 2005, an increase of 12 percent over the previous year, according to Liu Zhenya, general manager of the State Grid Corporation at a meeting attended by leaders of central enterprises under the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

Liu said that China's economy will continue its sound operation in 2005 as supported by the state macro control policy, while demand for electric power will grow at a fast speed.

According to the present construction of electric power facilities, China is expected to have more thermal power generating capacity installed in 2005 as compared with 2004.

But the country will be still in shortage of electric power, especially in eastern, northern and southern parts of the country, while other areas will be basically in balance of supply and demand.

China's shortage of electric power is estimated to stand at about 20 million KW in the peak consumption season of summer in 2005.

According to preliminary statistics, the country has 150 million KW of power stations starting construction in 2005, outstripping the total constructed in the 1990s.

China plans to increase installed generating capacity by 155 million KW during the 2003-2005 period.

The country's investment in power grid construction accounted for 40 percent of the total in electric power sector between 1995 and 2003. Slow development of power grid has now become one of the major difficulties for China in balancing power supply and demand.

China produced 184,431 million kwh of electricity in October 2004. The output in January-October reached 1,743,092 million kwh, up 15.0 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

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