China Approves 24 Power Plant, Grid Projects as Demand Climbs, NDRC Says

China, the world’s largest energy user, approved 24 power projects last month to help meet rising energy demand in the country’s less developed northern and western provinces.

The government has approved grid projects in provinces including Qinghai, Tibet, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi, according to a statement posted on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission today. The economic planner didn’t give any investment values.

President Hu Jintao pledged to double investment in Xinjiang province and the government said the country’s western regions will be a base for energy production and processing of natural resources. State Grid Corp. of China is building transmission lines linking Qinghai and Tibet that will cost about 14 billion yuan ($2.1 billion).

The government has also approved power plant projects including a 1,000-megawatt coal-fired unit to be built by China Guodian Corp. in Hubei province, two 600-megawatt coal-fueled units in Inner Mongolia, and two 1,000-megawatt units that China Datang Corp. is planning in Guangdong, the NDRC said in a separate statement.

--Winnie Zhu. Editors: Ryan Woo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Winnie Zhu in Shanghai at wzhu4@bloomberg.net

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