China said Monday to lift its 30 million people who lack access to electricity out of the situation through developing renewable energies, especially solar energy.

Zhang Guobao, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission said that a lighting project featuring the use of solar cells, has already helped three million people living in remote mountainous areas.

China has invested about 600 million US dollars in the past few years to install solar batteries in seven hundred small towns far from the country's power grid, said Zhang at the Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference that opened in Beijing Monday.

The country will continue with the project in the coming years, he said, with funds from both the central and local governments.

Zhang said that building a small-sized hydropower station is another way to provide an electricity supply. With the government subsidy, the electricity price is set as low as 1.2 cents to 4 cents one kilowatt-hour, affordable by people living in these areas.

But he mentioned the environmental deterioration risked by the building of hydropower stations and required local government to be cautious with the projects.

Source: Xinhua