Shanxi pipes 25 billion kwh of electricity
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-29 15:50

China's leading coal producing Shanxi Province has piped 25 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity to the other parts of the country this year, the provincial electric power company said Wednesday.

The country's leading power supplier, Shanxi has been generating electricity to fuel up North China and some eastern provinces, said Niu Renliang, vice governor of the province.

According to Niu, at least a quarter of all the Chinese capital's electricity comes from Shanxi, that means one out of every four lamps in Beijing is lit with electricity generated by the province.

The province has installed and put into operation seven new generators this year, to generate 1.3 million kwh of electricity for itself and an additional 1.1 million kwh for China's landmark west-to-east electricity transmission project.

Of all the six power plants designed in the northern section of the landmark project, four are under construction in Shanxi with a total generation capacity of 4.6 million kwh, according to Niu.

He said the province has also stepped up infrastructure construction and completed four electricity transmission lines to Beijing, Hebei Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Jiangsu Province.

Hydropower, thermal power and nuclear power are three main types of electricity now available in China, with thermal power continuing to dominate the country's power industrial development.

China's economic boom has driven up power demand and brought about a severe power shortage in 2004 that forced 27 out of the 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to exercise brownouts.

With more power generation facilities being installed and electricity transmitted from the energy-rich west to the hungry east, energy officials predict the power shortage would be eased by 2006.

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