Huaneng, Datang power output up in first 3 quarters

HONG KONG, Oct 15 - China's top two power producers, Huaneng Power and Datang Power, reported a rise in power output for the first nine months of 2009 as both firms raised capacity.

Output by Huaneng, China's biggest power provider, rose 3.08 percent in the first nine months of the year from a year earlier, due to its newly acquired and new operating units, the company said on Wednesday.

Huaneng Power produced 144.704 billion kilowatt hours in the first nine months of the year, the firm said in a statement.

Datang International Power Generation, China's second-biggest electricity provider, said it generated 5.63 percent more power for the first nine months of 2009, versus the same period a year ago, due to an increase in capacity of its operating units.

Datang said it generated 101.8 billion kilowatt hours during the nine-month period. China's power generation in September may have posted double-digit growth for the first time in 16 months, in a further sign of demand ticking up amid government economic stimulus..