China Huaneng Group launched the nation's first 1,000 MW (megawatt) ultra-supercritical coal-fired generating unit yesterday.

The unit is at Huaneng Yuhuan Power Plant in East China's Zhejiang Province, the first phase of which contains two 1,000 MW generating units, involving an investment of 9.6 billion yuan (US$1.22 billion).

Huaneng also signed an agreement last Friday with the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to develop coal-fired, hydropower and wind power projects.

As the nation's biggest electricity producer, Huaneng plans to spend as much as 250 billion yuan (US$31.65 billion) by 2010 to more than double its generation capacity.

The investment aims to add new facilities with a combined capacity of 50 GW (gigawatts), according to Li Xiaopeng, president of the Beijing-based power conglomerate, whose total capacity stood at 43.2 GW at the end of last year.

China, the world's fastest growing major economy and the second-biggest energy consumer, has urged domestic power makers to make large investments to scale up their capacity portfolios.

Newly commissioned generators have greatly eased electricity shortfalls that have plagued most of the country over the past four years, and a supply-demand balance is expected within a couple of years, according to industry analysts.

With the boom in China's electricity sector, the nation's top electricity companies see advanced technology as the key to their future development.

According to Huaneng, ultra-supercritical coal-fired power generating technology, which is more environmentally friendly and energy-saving than traditional technology, is the world's most advanced coal-fired power generating technology.

The State Grid Corp of China, the nation's biggest electricity distributor, started to build the country's first ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission line this August.

The 1,000-kilovolt line will supply the city of Jingmen in energy-hungry Hubei Province with power from the southeastern parts of coal-rich Shanxi Province.

The new line is part of the country's ambitious scheme to connect its resource-abundant west with the energy-intensive east, to improve resource allocation and ensure stable energy supply, analysts said.

Apart from the Shanxi-Hubei pilot project, more ultra-high voltage lines with a capacity greater than 800 kilovolts are being planned, which will send power from the country's major electricity bases, which are fuelled by hydro, nuclear and coal sources.

Apart from advanced technology, China's electricity giants also aim to achieve expansion through the capital market.

Datang International Power Generation Co said yesterday it would start selling shares in China on December 6 to raise funds for the construction of power plants. Datang Power will start discussions with potential buyers to price the shares, the Beijing-based company said in a prospectus to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, where the stock will trade.

It won approval from the Chinese Government on November 21 to sell a maximum of 500 million shares. Datang posted 1.27 billion yuan (US$160.8 million) net profit in the first six months of 2006, representing 14 percent year-on-year growth.

(China Daily November 29, 2006)