China is expected to see its power shortages substantially eased beginning in the next half of this year, a senior official with the China Electricity Council (CEC) said yesterday.

"Power supply and demand will be balanced nationwide in the next half of the year, although short-term power shortages will still exist in a few regions," said CEC secretary-general Wang Yonggan at a press conference in Beijing.

Power shortages only existed in four provinces in June, compared with 25 at the beginning of 2005 and nine in January.

Wang said power shortages had been remarkably relieved in the first six months of this year because more newly built large power stations were put into use.

In the first half of this year, China saw a newly installed power capacity of 32.41 million kilowatts, 11.1 per cent of which is from hydro power stations and 88.48 per cent from thermal power plants.

The nation generated 1.23 trillion kilowatt-hours of power during the first six months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 12 per cent, according to CEC.

Hydro power accounts for 13.76 per cent of energy generated, thermal power 83.93 per cent and nuclear power 2.02 per cent.

In the first half of the year, China's total power consumption reached 1.3 trillion kilowatt-hours, an increase of 12.89 per cent over the same period last year.

Wang estimated China's total power consumption in 2006 would increase by 12 per cent over last year.

The biggest power deficit will be 8 million kilowatts during the summer peak, which mainly appears in East China, North China and part of South China, Wang said.

Wang said China invested 75 billion yuan (US$9.2 billion) on construction and reformation of electricity networks in the first six months, which had greatly improved the country's power transport capacity.

Wang said the power industry must work to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 per cent, in accordance with the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

Consequently, renewable and clean energies such as hydro power and nuclear power would enjoy priority in the country's long-term development strategy.

In the first six months, China's standard coal consumption rate in power generation dropped to 362 grams per kilowatt-hour, 6 grams less than the same period last year.

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