Plea for more power plants

Power plants must be built faster to get on top of China's energy shortage, said State Power Grid General Manager Zhao Xizheng. China needs 30 million kW of new electricity capacity just to keep up with rising demand driven by the economy's racing growth. National consumption is projected to reach 4.5 trillion kW by 2020, up from 1.9 trillion kW last year. Zhao said Beijing was making up its shortfall by siphoning off more electricity from nearby Shanxi province, Inner Mongolia and provinces in the northeast, which together supply two-thirds of Beijing's power. He said the policy had already created shortages in Hebei and Shanxi provinces and Tianjin.