Government and Policy

China to move strategic energy bases to inland

By Zhao Chenyan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-01-07 17:20

China will move its strategic energy bases from the central and east parts to its western regions in order to adjust the energy structure and keep its economy growing over the next five years, said Zhang Guobao, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China Economic Net reported Friday.

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Zhang said the country's future five strategic energy bases would cover Shanxi province,  Ordos basin in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, eastern Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Southeast China, where the reserves of coal, oil, gas and water resources account for over 70 percent of the total in China.

For the central regions, Zhang said that China will try to make coal work more efficiently and build thermal power plants more properly, while at the same time, introducing nuclear power plants at the right time as well as develop renewable energy as coal resources are decreasing in the region.

In eastern regions, China will optimize the energy structure by strict control of thermal power projects there and no longer building any coal-fired power plants in big and middle cities nearby. Its power needs can be met via a west to east electricity transmission project, which can also help improve the air condition of this region, said Zhang.