China Huaneng Group, the nation's largest power producer, said
yesterday it produced 16 percent more electricity last year, after
adding plants to meet rising demand.
The company's total installed power capacity at the end of last
year was 71.6 million kW, and it produced 327.1 billion kWh of
electricity, Huaneng said yesterday.
The utility made several breakthroughs last year, including
construction of the Yuhuan thermal power plant - the world's
largest ultra supercritical power facility.
Located in Zhejiang province's Yuhuan, the plant has four
1,000-megawatt (MW) generating units. It's also the nation's first
project to use the world's most advanced thermal power
technology.
With ultra supercritical technology, a power-generating unit
operates under a mix of temperatures and pressures above the
critical point, at which the boundary of water's liquid and vapor
state disappears. By eliminating the transition of water into
steam, the power units increase fuel efficiency.
Total investment in the plant is 15.6 billion yuan. The first
phase, which includes two 1,000-MW generating units, was finished
in December 2006.
According to Huaneng, the four units will save 400,000 tons of
coal equivalent, compared with supercritical power plants. CO2
emissions will also be reduced by over 500,000 tons, and sulfur
dioxide by over 6,000 tons.
The company is also developing China's first nuclear plant using
high-temperature gas-cooled technology. The 200-MW Shidaowan plant
involves a total investment of 3 billion yuan.
Huaneng is developing the project with China Nuclear Engineering
and Construction Corp and Tsinghua University.
China's first 10-MW high-temperature gas-cooled experimental
reactor was designed and built by the Institute of Nuclear Energy
Technology of Tsinghua University and began generating power in
January 2003.
Earlier media reports said Huaneng was among the nine companies
short-listed by the Singapore government as potential bidders for
the $2 billion Tuas station, a major power generator in the city
state.
But Huaneng declined to comment yesterday.
(China Daily January 9, 2008)
