SHANGHAI, Jul 13, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- China will invest CNY200 billion ($29.5 billion) in the next three years in an upgrading of the nationwide power grid in rural areas, the state-run Economic Information Daily reported Tuesday.

About two-thirds of the money will be used to purchase electric transmission and transformation equipment, the report cited Zhang Guobao, the head of the National Energy Administration at China's National Development and Reform Commission, as saying.

The equipment will include transformers, cables, wires, electricity poles and iron towers, the report cited Shi Lishang, vice director at the NEA's Department of New Energy and Renewable Energy, as saying.

The investment program will greatly enhance metal demand for copper, which is widely used in infrastructure, construction and transportation projects, the China Nonferrous Metals Network said in a report.

Last year, copper consumption reached 5.4 million tons, of which 2.7 million tons was used in power grid construction funded by investment of CNY306 billion, indicating that an additional 883,000 tons of copper would be consumed for each CNY100 billion invested under the program, the report said.