Datang cleared to invest 2.9b yuan in Hebei heat and power project
Datang International Power Generation has received Beijing's approval to invest in a 2.9 billion yuan heat-and-power project in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, to tap the city's move towards a more efficient and cleaner heating system.
The company has established a wholly owned unit, Zhang Jia Kou Thermal Power, to build two generating units with annual capacity of 300 megawatts each in the city, about 100km northwest of Beijing.
Approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the coal-fired project will be financed 20 per cent by cash and the remainder by loans, Datang said.
Building would start this year, with completion expected by 2010, a company spokesman said.
In addition to supplying electricity to the northern power grid, it would also provide about 6.91 million gigajoules of heat annually to the city.
Lacking a centralised heating source, Zhangjiakou relies on small boilers delivering scattered and inefficient heat supply. The new plant will introduce central heating for the first time in the centre of the city.
'The company will also benefit from the rising power demand in Zhangjiakou, thus facilitating the company's further development and increasing the returns to shareholders,' Datang said. 'Upon completion of the project, the discharge of pollutants in the region will be greatly reduced.'
Datang wholly owns and operates eight generating units of 300 MW each in Zhangjiakou. The plant is the largest coal-fired power facility in the north. The units came on stream between 1995 and 2001.
It is the 'backbone' coal-fired plant in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan power grid, to which Datang is the largest supplier, according to Datang.
The company had investment in power plants with total installed capacity of 20,134.7 MW on the mainland at the end of last year. It is building or has received approval for 11,230 MW, and is planning a further 5,800 MW.
City first
Centralised heating will solve the problem of inefficient boilers
Annual capacity of Zhangjiakou's planned generating units, in megawatts: 300
