Taizhou, the coastal city of East China's Zhejiang Province, is set to build East China's largest thermal power plant to help quell power shortages in the nation's booming Yangtze-River Delta region.

The plant will bring on-line some 1.8 million kilowatts in its first phase,

Meanwhile, the State Council recently approved another 2-million-kilowatt nuclear power plant in a suburban area of Taizhou.

Together, they will make Taizhou the largest power provider in East China by 2007 or 2008 when the projects go into operation, said Chen Xiong, director of Taizhou Municipal Information Office. He spoke during a recent visit to Shanghai.

Currently, the Taizhou Power Plant has a capacity of 1.4 million kilowatts, the second largest in the province.

"The two gigantic power plant projects in Taizhou may to some degree relieve the power shortage in East China," Chen said.

But Wang Yichao, chief engineer of the Taizhou Electric Power Bureau, said the Yangtze River Delta region will remain lacking needed electricity in the near future.

"Even if the two plants are completed, the shortage may still exist in the East China region," Wang said.

The Yangtze River Delta region in East China is now suffering the severest electricity shortages compared to 20 other provincial electricity networks around the country that have witnessed electricity shortfalls to various degrees this year.

"Shanghai and Hangzhou will be in short supply for the whole next year," Wang predicted.

The construction of Taizhou's Huaneng Yuhuan Power Plant, located near Taizhou port with 35 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) of joint investment by China Huaneng Group and local governments, will kick off within this year, said Wang.

Taizhou's Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant will also have aggressive plans for expansion after the completion of the first phase.

The nuclear plant will include two phases, with each designed with a capacity of 6 million kilowatts, according to Wang.

Taizhou Sanmen Nuclear Plant is one of the four newly-approved megawatt hydro-pressurized nuclear power stations in the country.

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