Beijing is going to boost its power-generating capacity and do more to promote conservation, according to an official plan released yesterday.

The plan's goal is to diversify and secure a stable energy supply for the capital city.

"We aim to establish a secure energy-supply system to guarantee a successful Olympic Games and to meet the increasing demand of the city's social and economic growth," said Liu Yinchun, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, at a press meeting yesterday.

According to the Plan for Energy Development and Saving (2006-10), the construction of energy infrastructure will be the municipal government's top priority in the coming years.

To strengthen the city's ring power grid, six more 500-kilovolt transformer substations will be built in the suburbs.

The city will also build four more thermal power plants, adding 1.5 million kilowatts of power a year and central heating to cover 25 million square metres of space.

A new 90-kilometre thermal power pipe will be built in central Beijing, improving the city's heating system.

Several major projects involving liquid natural gas and underground gas and oil deposits will also be completed by 2010.

In addition to capacity building, the plan calls for Beijing to become a model of energy-conservation for the whole country by 2010.

Beijing became China's second most energy-consuming city last year after Shanghai, requiring energy equivalent to 55.22 million tons of standard coal.

The city's per-capita energy consumption reached 3.6 tons of standard coal during the period, 2.1 times of national average.

The plan seeks to limit the city's energy consumption to 65 million tons of standard coal by 2010.

The plan also calls on the city to reform its energy structure by increasing the share of high-quality energy sources like electricity, natural gas and renewable energy in the city's overall energy supply.

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