First Unit of TBEA Xinjiang Silicon's Power Station Begins Operations

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The first unit of TBEA Silicon Industry Company Limited's (Urumqi, Xinjiang) 700-megawatt (MW) power station was connected to the grid on January 7, 2013. The unit is ready to begin commercial operations shortly, according to an announcement from Henan No.1 Thermal Power Construction Company (HTPC1) (Zhengzhou, Henan), the project contractor, on the same day.

As reported, the power station is part of TBEA Xinjiang Silicon's $2.5 billion Photovoltaic Industry Cyclic Economic Project that has been proposed for the Ganquanbao Industrial Park of Urumqi City, in the Xinjiang autonomous region. As the largest photovoltaic industry project in Xinjiang, the project mainly comprises one 12,000-ton-per-year solar poly-silicon project; a 500-MW silicon wafer; a 2,000-ton-per-year carbon black project; a 15,000-ton-per-year chlorine project; and a 700-MW cogeneration power station.

In May 2011, the project received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission. According to the approval, the project will be furnished with two 350-MW, supercritical, coal-fired units to provide combined heat and power supply for the solar poly-silicon project. HTPC1 won the construction contract for the project through competitive bidding in August 2011.

HTPC1 has reached all the key milestones for the project, including the boiler water pressure test, the steam turbine box-up, the energizing of the plant's service power supply, pipeline flushing, and the unit's first startup since the construction of the project kicked off in late 2011.

The success of grid connection has paved a firm foundation for the 168-hour, full-load trial operation in the next stage. According to the schedule, both units of the project will begin operations in the first quarter of 2013.

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