The government will continue to shut down small, wasteful and environmentally disastrous thermal power plants while encouraging the development of large thermal generators and hydropower in the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05), China Daily learned at the 2001 Sino-German New Technology Workshop on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy held recently in Beijing.

"To guarantee sustainable development in the power sector, we should optimize the country's energy structure over the next five to 10 years, paying particular attention to energy conservation and environmental protection," said Zhang Xiaolu, director of the Department of Science and Technology and Environment Protection under the State Power Corporation.

The corporation, which generates the lion's share of power used across the country, will continue to employ modern technology to generate more power while reducing emissions, including sulphur dioxide and suspended particles, Zhang said.

According to the corporation's 2005 agenda issued at the seminar, China's total installed power capacity will top 355 million kilowatts in 2005, and 450 million kilowatts in 2010. Last year installed capacity was 314 million kilowatts.

"Our long-term goal is to form a nationwide power supply network with the Three Gorges Hydropower Plant at the core and also to have an optimized energy distribution structure," Zhang said.

To date, China's proven coal deposits stand at 1,000 billion tons and account for 90 per cent of all known reserves of primary energy, including coal, oil and natural gas, inside China.

This energy resource composition indicates that China should focus on utilizing thermal power, Zhang said.

(China Daily 03/19/2001)