"China leads the world in term of hydroelectric power, with approximately 400 million exploitable kilowatts and annual hydropower production of about 170 million kwh," said Zhang Guobao, vice minister of the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC).

Addressing a United Nations seminar on sustainable development of hydropower, Zhang said that China's hydropower resources, equivalent to 60 billion tons of standard coal, are the country's second largest energy resource. Coal is the largest.

China's gross installed hydropower generating capacity has topped 100 million kilowatts this year, accounting for a quarter of gross installed electric power capacity and providing some 20 percent of the country's total electric power.

Currently, thermal power generation constitutes about 70 percent of the nation's power supply. Cities in south China, normally more heavily reliant on hydroelectricity, resort to thermal power when they suffer power shortages during the dry season.

With China's sustained and rapid economic development, the demand for petroleum, coal and electric power remains high.

In 2003, China ranked third in the world in term of energy production, with an output of 1.6 billion tons of standard coal. It was second in energy consumption, using 1.7 billion tons of standard coal.

Hydroelectric power provides one-fifth of world's electric power, said Zhang. Unlike coal, it is a renewable energy source that can be tapped on a large scale.

China will give priority to hydroelectric projects as part of its sustainable development strategy to reduce pollution in the future, Zhang said.

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn October 28, 2004)