Underdeveloped Yunnan Province in southwestern China has set a goal of building its power industry into a pillar sector for local economic development by 2020.

Local abundant water resources give Yunnan the capacity to install up to 90-million-kw waterpower units, accounting, at 17.9 percent, for the largest proportion of the country's total.

So far, two-thirds of generating units in Yunnan operate with waterpower, and the remaining one-third are thermal power plants with coal fuel.

The province plans to increase local installed capacity from 9.4 million kw in 2003 to 60-80 million kw in 2020, with output value of the power industry rising from 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in 2003 to 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) in 2020.

This means that as from 2020, power plants in Yunnan will be capable of offering more than 300 billion kwh of electricity a year.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2004)