BEIJING, April 10 -- Yangtze Electric Power Co., operator of the Three Gorges hydroelectric dam, said Friday it had generated 8.85 percent more electricity in the first quarter than a year earlier.

    Yangtze Power produced 5.77 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in the January-March period, with 43 percent of the output coming from the Three Gorges, it said in a statement.

    The company, China¡¯s most valuable power firm, shares Three Gorges output with its State-owned parent, China Three Gorges Project Corp. The plant is the world¡¯s largest hydropower project.

    Its share of the dam¡¯s output had been 3.378 million MWh in the first three months of this year, while its wholly owned Gezhouba Dam had yielded the remaining 2.392 million MWh, the company said.

    The output rise may have been boosted by swelling reservoirs. Water levels behind key dams at the beginning of 2006 were 30 percent higher than a year earlier, China¡¯s top economic planning body said in March.

    However, the power company didn¡¯t give an estimate for its first quarter earnings, which are expected to be released April 26.

    In 2005, Yangtze Power¡¯s full year net profit rose 9.9 percent year on year to 3.34 billion yuan (US$417.51 million).

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)