China is to step up development of its conventional and renewable energy sources to meet growing demand. It is to target speeding up the construction of terraced hydropower stations in river valleys and the construction of power stations near coal mines, while increasing coal extraction in the western region.
China is also reported to have completed a feasibility study on transmitting electricity from the west to its coastal areas in the east that may see construction of an east-west grid by 2020. With water energy resources estimated at 376 GWe, it also expects to add 5 GWe of hydropower capacity, annually, from now until 2010, giving it 125 GWe by then, according to the State Power Corporation. Senior government figures have made calls for a similar 5 GWe capacity to be developed from solar resources by 2020.
