China Yangtze Power Co, operator of the world's largest hydropower project, increased electricity output by 23 percent last year as economic growth drove up energy demand.

Output rose to 43.97 million megawatt hours, the Beijing-based company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

Production from the Three Gorges project surged by 35 percent to 28.5 million megawatt hours and output from the Gezhouba station increased six percent to 15.46 million megawatt hours.

Yangtze Power is benefiting from surging demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy, which expanded 11.5 percent in the third quarter of 2007.

Profit rose 47 percent to 5.32 billion yuan (US$733 million) last year, Yangtze Power has said, as sales gained 26 percent.