Energy-Starved China Says Electricity Supply To Exceed 2010 Target

SINO DAILY

An endless supply of coal miners will ensure China never runs out of coal.

Beijing (AFP) Aug 10, 2005
Energy-starved China will pass a target for electricity output almost five years ahead of schedule as new, mostly coal-fired power plants come on line this year, the government said Wednesday.

The country had aimed for 690 million kilowatts of new power by 2010. But a government official said that in 2005 the country would almost reach that target and easily beat a target of 950 kilowatts by 2020.

"This year China will have 500 million kilowatts installed, so the 2010 target will easily be broken," Zhang Guobao, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a conference in Beijing.

In early July local manufacturers in the country's financial centre of Shanghai were ordered to halt production after a heat wave sent electricity use soaring to record levels as demand for air conditioning sapped the city's grid.

So far this year, 24 of China's 31 provinces and provincial-level administrative units have experienced breakdowns in power supply of varying duration.

China has been aggressively building new power plants to meet demand from its quickly growing economy including moving away from heavily polluting coal-fired plants.

Zhang said that in the next five years, the proportion of the country's energy from coal-fired plants will increase, but the government hopes to reverse the trend with more hydropower and nuclear power plants.

But construction of two hydroelectric projects in southwestern China - the Nu Jiang and Jing Shajiang - have already been halted over environmental concerns from China's Environmental Protection Administration.

The combined capacity of these two plants was to be larger than that of the controversial and expensive Three Gorges project, meant to tame the flood-prone Yangtze and increase the country's power supply.

Construction began on the dam, expected to cost 180 billion yuanbillion dollars), began in 1993 and on completion in 2009 when 32 power-generating units will be in operation.

Zhang also said that China is not likely to reach its 2010 nuclear power target of 12 million kilowatts.

China is expected to announce the winner of an eight-billion-dollar contract to build four nuclear reactors by October.

Currently, France's Areva, Westinghouse Electric Co of the United States and Russia's AtomStroyExport are bidding for the contract to build the reactors at two power plants in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces.

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MOONDAILY

China Expected To Launch Lunar Probe Satellite In 2007

Beijing (XNA) Aug 10, 2005
China is expected to launch its first ever lunar probe satellite in 2007, given that the country's moon exploration project has so far been proceeding smoothly, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC).

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