China has closed 365 small thermal power generators with a total capacity of 11.1 million kilowatts so far this year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Shuttering these facilities is part of the nation's energy-saving and pollution-reduction program. China has vowed to cut the amount of energy consumed per unit of GDP (energy intensity) by 20 percent and emissions of major pollutants by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010.

On average, the closed generators had a single-set capacity of 30,000 kilowatts and consumed 488 grams of coal to generate one kilowatt-hour of electricity. Their age averaged 28 years.

Almost half the affected capacity (47 percent) was located in just five regions: Henan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan. These closures involved 191 generators with 5.26 million kilowatts worth of capacity.

China's top five power enterprises, local investment corporations and local state-owned enterprises carried out most of the closures, shutting down 199 generators with a total of 8.51 million kilowatts in capacity. These shutdowns comprised 76.7 percent of the total, with the remaining 23.3 percent from private enterprises.

NDRC is a macroeconomic management agency under China's State Council, which formulates policies and guides economic restructuring.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2007)