China's power generating capacity is expected to reach 700 million kilowatts by the end of 2007, said Wang Yeping, vice president of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC).

China would increase installed capacity by between 90 million and 95 million kilowatts this year, he told a press conference held here on Thursday, without revealing how much clean and renewable energy would be made.

The country's installed capacity rose by 20.3 percent year-on-year to 622 million kilowatts by the end of last year, that of thermal power plants accounting for 77.82 percent and hydro power plants 20.67 percent, according to an annual report issued by the SERC Thursday.

In 2006 alone, the capacity of thermal power plants comprised 88.2 percent of the total newly increased, the report showed.

Although China is making progress in developing new energies, such as nuclear, wind power and geothermal energies, the percentage is still low. Nuclear power capacity had formed only 1.1 percent of the total by the end of 2006, wind power 0.3 percent.

Under the government's development plan, by 2010, the overall generating capacity will reach 800 million kw, of which 35 percent would be "clean power" generated from hydropower, nuclear energy and other forms of new energy.

Source: Xinhua