NDRC Approves Power Stations in Eastern Inner Mongolia

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The National Development and Reform Commission recently approved a group of power stations in eastern Inner Mongolia with a total planned installation capacity of 3,600 megawatts (MW). The projects include: Phase III expansion of the Ewenke Yimin Coal Power (two 600 MW units); the new Ewenke power plant (two 600 MW units); and a new Hulunbeier Energy project (two 600 MW units).

This is the NDRC's first introduction competitive mechanism in the development of Hulubeier's coal-power base in order to ensure the development and utilization of energy and to promote open and fair competition among investors.

Construction on the group of power stations is expected to start in May 2008. Three units will go into operation in 2009, and the remaining three units will go into operation in 2010. The total investment of these projects will be $2.29 billion: $1.56 billion for power station construction and $730 million for the associated coalmines. Upon completion, annual output of the power station group will be about 21.6 billion kilowatt-hours.

Electricity generated from the group will be transmitted to Shenyang, the load center in northeastern China, by way of a 500-kilovolt DC transmission line. The 972-kilometer DC transmission line from Hulunbeier to Liaoning will cost $957 million, which will be built and invested by the State Grid Corporation of China (Beijing).

Hulunbeier has been engaged in the construction of a large-scale coal power base since the 1980s. So far, the city has 2,200 MW of pithead coal power units and 5 million tons per annum of open-air coalmines in operation.

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