China's power generation goes greener with total capacity up 10 %

China's power generation capacity rose 10.23 % to 874 mm kW by the end of 2009, second only to the United States, according to figures.
Thermal electricity accounted for 74.6 % of the total, or 652 mm kW, down 1.45 percentage points year on year, as the nation strived to reduce dependence on polluting energy sources, according to the China Electricity Council.

Hydro-power capacity was 197 mm kW, or 22.51 % of the total, up 0.74 percentage points. Wind power capacity nearly doubled in 2009 to 16.13 mm kW.
Nuclear power capacity was 9.08 mm kW, with 23.05 mm kW of capacity under construction by the end of last year.

Some yuan 755.84 bn ($ 111.15 bn) was invested on the improvement of power generation and transmission facilities in 2009, up 20 % year on year. Investment in wind and nuclear power projects rose while that for thermal power expansion fell.
To fulfil its target of emission cuts, the authorities closed small coal-fuelled power plants with a generating capacity of 26.17 mmkW in 2009.

The government has pledged to increase the capacity of new energy to 15 % of the total by 2020.
Despite the rising capacity, power supply still fell short of demand notably when the icy weather that hit most parts of the nation this winter strained power grids. Several provinces including Jiangsu and Hubei cut power temporarily in some areas to ration electricity.