The plants will be built in China’s eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Shandong, as well as Guangdong and Hainan in the south, the official Xinhua News Agency cited the National Energy Administration as saying.

Construction of the Sanmen plant in Zhejiang began Sunday, Xinhua said, while the building of the plant in Shandong will begin in September. No other details were provided.

Government plans announced in recent years call for nuclear plants to supply 4 percent of China’s power needs by 2020, up from about 2 percent currently.

It will require expanding generating capacity to 40 million kilowatts from 9 million kilowatts at present to keep up with fast-growing consumption in the country of 1.3 billion people.

China currently has six nuclear power plants, all located on the east coast. Beijing is also promoting solar, wind and other renewable energy, but is expected to continue to rely heavily on coal and oil.