China plans to build four more hydro-electric power stations on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, state media reported Sunday.
The new plants will be built on the middle and upper reaches of the Jinsha section of the Yangtze River at the border between the south-western provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan, Xinhua news agency reported.
They will have a combined capacity of 38.5 million kilowatts, the report said.
Construction of two of them - the Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba plants - will begin next year, it said.
The Yunnan provincial government hopes to turn the middle and upper reaches of Jinsha into the country's largest energy production base, so that power could be sent from energy-rich but poor western China to economically developed eastern areas, Xinhua said.
China's booming economy has created a massive appetite for energy. The country is facing a possible 30,000 megawatt power shortage over summer months - the worse since the 1980s.