The power plants, which will begin construction in the next two to three years, will have a total electricity generating capacity of 11.88 million kilowatts.

Most of the planned power plants are located in electricity-strained areas, including northern, central, eastern, southern and southwestern parts of China.

According to the SDRC, upon completion, the power plants will help ease the demand for electricity supply in the next five years.

Since the beginning of the year, the Chinese government has approved the construction of more than 30 large-scale power plants, and work on 17 of them have been started.

The SDRC predicts that added electricity generating capacity in China will exceed 18.49 million kilowatts this year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2003)