BEIJING - The State Grid Corporation of China, China's biggest power transmission company, said Thursday its profit increased 18 percent year-on-year in 2011 on stronger business revenues.

Profit before tax reached 53.3 billion yuan ($8.5 billion) in 2011, State Grid President Liu Zhenya said at a company meeting, noting that the company targets a 16 percent profit growth for 2012.

Business revenues increased 11.6 percent year-on-year to 1.7 trillion yuan in 2011, Liu added.

He said the company aims to make breakthroughs in smart grid construction and launch several ultra-high-voltage power transmission projects, which can deliver large quantities of power over long distances with lower power losses than traditional lines, in 2012.

The State Grid Corporation is China's biggest electric power transmission company, distributing electricity to 88 percent of the country's territory.

China will likely face a power supply shortage as the increase in the country's power consumption continues to outrun the expansion of its power-generation capacity, the China Electricity Council has warned.

The country added 66.27 million kilowatts of new power-generation capacity in the first 11 months of 2011, 1.02 million kilowatts less than in the same period of the previous year. Its power consumption, however, climbed 11.85 percent year-on-year during the period.