Leading electricity company to curb thermal power investment

BEIJING - China Guodian Corp (CGC), a leading electricity company, will cut its investment in thermal power projects to slash overcapacity and shift toward clean energy.

To this end, the corporation plans to spend at most 44.8 billion yuan (around $6.53 billion) this year, a remarkable fall from 58.2 billion yuan in 2016, said CGC chairman Qiao Baoping.

As the country's electricity sector is plagued by overcapacity, the corporation canceled six thermal power projects and suspended a few last year.

The proportion of electricity generated by clean and renewable energy rose to 30.3 percent of the corporation's total output in 2016.

Qiao said the corporation will continue to increase investment in clean energy while curbing the growth of thermal power.

CGC plans to produce 507 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 57.4 million tonnes of coal this year.

At the end of 2016, the corporation's total assets stood at 804.3 billion yuan. Revenue reached 183.6 billion yuan.

Its electricity output was 505.2 billion kilowatt hours in 2016, up 4.4 percent year on year.