National power supply secure with new plants

The superhighvoltage power plant of Jinneng Holding Electricity is an environmentally friendly facility.HU YAQIONG/FOR CHINA DAILY

Shanxi's first superhigh-voltage power plant, featuring two 1-million-kilowatt coal-fired electricity generators－the largest in the province－began operating in Changzhi city on Feb 28.

The project was launched by Jinneng Holding Electricity, a subsidiary of local coal and electricity giant Jinneng Holding Group. It is designed to supply electricity to other regions of the country via a network operated by State Grid.

The power plant is also an environmentally friendly project due to its high efficiency and state-of-the-art pollution-control system.

This includes devices for desulfurization, dust elimination and wastewater treatment.

High efficiency of transmission is made possible with a 1,000-kW power substation. This helps to transmit electricity through a superhigh-voltage grid system going south to Hubei province.

The 1,000-kW transmission line－also the first in China with such a capacity－was built by Shanxi Electricity, a subsidiary of State Grid. It became operational in 2009. Electricity was generated in coal-fired plants in Changzhi, including ones owned by Jinneng Holding Electricity, and was delivered to Hubei through a special grid network via Henan province.

Over its 11 years, more than 75 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity has been sent to Hubei via the line, said Liang Chao, a Shanxi Electricity executive in charge of the power line project. He added that the line has reduced coal transportation volume to Hubei by an average of more than 7 million metric tons annually. That translates into 100,000 fewer train wagons needed for transport each year.

Shanxi has 18 electricity transmission lines to supply power to the rest of the country.

By the end of 2020, Shanxi had distributed more than 100 billion kWh of electricity to other regions, ranking fourth in the country, according to Shanxi Electricity.

The capacity of Shanxi electricity transmitted to the rest of the country will expand with the operation of new power plants like the Jinneng Holding Electricity plant in Changzhi.

The company's executives estimated the annual generation capacity of the superhigh-voltage power plant can reach 12 billion kWh.

The company is also planning to build a superlarge project with two 1.35-million-kW generators, as well as four other projects with twin generators ranging from 660,000 kW to 1 million kW.

Zhang Yi contributed to this story.

By YUAN SHENGGAO