China may soon revise power goal

China will soon announce the revised power supply capacity target for 2020, a senior energy official said yesterday.

Teams of experts and officials are busy reworking the target, which may increase to 1,400-1,500 GW by 2020, said Sun Qin, deputy director of the National Energy Administration. He said speeding up construction of power plants would help stimulate the domestic economy and create more jobs.

The revised target, if approved by the central government, would be nearly a 50 percent increase from the previous goal set by the government in 2006, when it planned to develop 1,000 GW in installed capacity by 2020.

This year, China's power capacity will cross 900 GW and will soon be on par with the US, which has 1,000 GW in electricity supply capacity now.

"To meet the increasing demand for power and face up to the challenges thrown up by financial crisis, we will further accelerate construction of energy infrastructure," Sun said at a news conference held in Beijing yesterday.

Sun, however, did not clarify when the new target would be officially approved. He said China would restructure its electricity supply mix by supporting more investment in nuclear, solar, wind and biomass energy.

In line with the revised target, the ratio of nuclear power to the combined installed electricity capacity will increase to 5 percent in 2020 from 2 percent in 2008. Sun said China's installed nuclear power capacity would increase to 60-75 GW by 2020, from the previous target of 40 GW. It stood at 9.1 GW at the end of 2008.

"All the targets are under discussion and we are drafting the final program documents, which will be submitted to the central government for approval," said Sun.

A senior official with the NEA told China Daily separately that China's highest leadership has called for a revision in the national energy program, in order to help the economy buffeted by the financial crisis.

"The energy infrastructure has seen significant investment and will benefit the industrial chain if it is well developed," said the official, surnamed Ding. She called it a "rational investment area" as China's urbanization and industrialization would continuously expand electricity demand.