A worker installs wind turbines in Shanghai

China Huaneng Group, the country's largest power producer, said it will boost the development of new energy such as wind and solar power, in line with the government's thrust for renewable energy.

The company has accelerated its development of wind power in Guangdong, Jilin, Shandong, Inner Mongolia and Hainan, said Huaneng President Li Xiaopeng.

"The company's wind power projects in operation or under construction now have a total capacity of 1,347 mW," said Li. "We are also developing solar power projects in the Northwest and biomass power projects in Jilin province in Northeast China."

Besides wind, solar and biomass power, the company will also increase its capacity of hydropower, thermal and nuclear power, said Li.

Last year, the company's Yuhuan power plant in Zhejiang started commercial operation. With four 1,000 mW ultra supercritical units, it is one of the world's most energy-efficient and environmentally friendly power generating projects in the world.

The company is also developing China's first nuclear plant using high-temperature, gas-cooled technology. The 200 mW Shidaowan plant in Shandong involves a total investment of 3 billion yuan.

Huaneng has launched the GreenGen project, the first near-zero-emission integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant in China. Located in Tianjin, the project has a capacity of 250 mW. Last year, US coal company Peabody became an equity partner in the project.

Along with giving a push to new energy, Huaneng will accelerate closures of small-scale power generating units. In the first two months of this year, the company has closed down power units with a total capacity of 100 mW. By the end of 2007, the company closed down a number of small-scale power units with a total capacity of 2,391 mW.

In 2007, the company's sulfur dioxide emissions were reduced by 8.88 percent. By the end of last year, 57 percent of the company's power units had been installed with de-sulfur equipments.

Last year, the company signed an agreement with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency, to develop clean-coal power generation and carbon capturing and storage technologies.

The collaboration includes capturing power plants' flue gases, coal gasification, coal gas purification and other generation technologies. It will also include a post-combustion capture pilot project at Huaneng Beijing thermal power plant. Post-combustion capture traps carbon dioxide from flue gases of power plants.

(China Daily March 26, 2008)