China is to spend about Yn300bn by 2010 to double its hydroelectric capacity, said Chen Dongping, a deputy director general of the State Power Corp. Generating capacity is set to increase to 150,000MW in the next eight years, the equivalent of eight Three Gorges dams. Chen said China needed these plants to reduce its dependence on coal as a source of energy and to thereby improve the environment. Most of the dams will be located in the mountainous areas of poorer western provinces such as Sichuan and Yunnan.
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