China Huaneng Group, the nation's biggest electricity producer, plans to spend as much as 250 billion yuan (US$31.25 billion) by 2010 to more than double its generation capacity.

While the bulk of the investment will go to coal power stations, new hydro and wind plants will also be built.

The investment, budgeted between this year and 2010, aims to add new facilities with a combined capacity of 50 GW (gigawatts), according to Li Xiaopeng, president of the Beijing-based power conglomerate whose total capacity stood at 43.2 GW at the end of last year.

"The new facilities to be installed will be large-scale coal-fired units and renewable energy-fuelled plants, which highlight cost-efficiency and environmental protection," Li told China Daily in Beijing on the sidelines of a company conference on Tuesday.

China, the world's fastest growing major economy and the second-biggest energy consumer, has prompted domestic power majors to shell out large investments to scale up their capacity portfolios.

Newly commissioned generators have greatly eased electricity shortfalls that have plagued most of the country over the past four years, and a supply-demand balance is expected within a couple of years, industry analysts said.

Beijing-based Huaneng Group is aiming for a total installed capacity of more than 80 GW, with a sales revenue of 140 billion yuan (US$17.5 billion) by 2010.

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