China's coal-rich province targets 6 pct GDP growth in 2023

Aerial photo shows construction workers checking the steel rails at the Datong section of the Datong-Qinhuangdao railway in north China's Shanxi Province, April 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Cao Yang)

TAIYUAN, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- North China's coal-rich province of Shanxi has set the gross domestic product (GDP) growth target at about 6 percent for 2023, according to the ongoing annual session of the provincial people's congress.

Shanxi's GDP was estimated at over 2.5 trillion yuan (about 371.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022. Over the past five years, Shanxi has seen average annual GDP growth of over 6 percent, according to a government work report released at the session.

As an important energy base in China, Shanxi's coal production reached 1.3 billion tonnes last year, ranking first in the country, of which the advanced coal production capacity increased to 80 percent in proportion.

China launched an energy revolution pilot program in Shanxi in 2019, promoting the coal-rich province to explore energy transition.

As of 2022, the installed capacity of new energy and clean energy in Shanxi had reached 49 million kilowatts, accounting for 40.25 percent of the province's total, and the energy consumption intensity for power generation in 2022 dropped by 16 percent compared to five years ago.

Shanxi will accelerate the construction of a green energy supply system, according to the report. In the next five years, the proportion of advanced coal production capacity is to reach about 95 percent, while that of new energy and clean energy installed capacity will come up to 54 percent.