CLP Holdings Ltd , Hong Kong's largest power supplier, said on Monday it has agreed to invest in a 70 billion yuan ($10.9 billion) nuclear power project in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
It will hold a 17 percent stake in the Yangjiang nuclear power project under an agreement with state-owned China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co Ltd, it said in a statement.
CLP, which owns power projects across Asia, holds a 25 percent stake in Guangdong Daya Bay nuclear power plant, which is located about 50 km (30 miles) from densely-populated Hong Kong.
Located about 220 km from Hong Kong, the 6,000-megawatt Yangjiang nuclear power station will supply electricity to meet local demand in Guangdong, CLP said. The project will be fully operational in 2017.
The Chinese government temporarily suspended approvals of new nuclear projects on March 16, days after Japan's quake-ravaged Fukushima nuclear complex triggered radiation worries.
China is building about 28 reactors, roughly 40 percent of the global total under construction, and the central government has fast-tracked approvals in the past two years.
China had just 10.8 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity at end-2010. The official nuclear target for 2020 of 40 GW is less than 5 percent of its current installed electricity generating capacity. ($1 = 6.445 Chinese Yuan)
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