China's installed power generation capacity rose 18.4 percent year-on-year to reach 580 million KW at the end of October, said an official with the State Grid Corporation of China.

Liu Zhenya, general manager of the company, told a conference held in Beijing on Tuesday, that China's power supply shortages would ease this year.

Statistics show that China produced 2,011 billion kWhs of electricity in the first three quarters, up 12.9 percent from the same period last year.

More generators producing 75 million kW will go into operation next year. Investment in grid construction will be about 200 billion yuan (around US$25.47 billion) this year and next, according to the government plan of power supply.

The China Electricity Council (CEC) announced that China's power generation capacity will exceed 600 million KW by the end of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2006)