Datang to build new power plant in Shenyang

Datang International Power<991>, one of China's leading electricity producers, plans to build an integrated gasfication combined cycle (IGCC) plant in Shenyang with a total investment of RMB 18 billion.

Located in the city's Chemical Industry Park of Xihe Economic Development Zone, the new plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2009. Sources from Shenyang Xihe Economic Development Zone said that Datang IGCC project is the first large project in Shenyang.

With the installation of four 400-megawatts power generators, the project will be able to produce electricity, heat, steam, methanol and other chemical by-products simultaneously.

The new plant is supposed to provide electricity to the power grid in northeastern Liaoning Province, where the city is located, so as to meet the growing demand for electricity there.

The first stage of the project can provide 1,100 tons of steam per hour, supplying heat energy for the chemical park.

Steam output will be supplied to the nearby Shenyang Rubber Industrial Park and Northeast Pharmaceutical Group, while methanol and other chemical products are to be supplied to various gas enterprises.

Sources also revealed that Datang had signed some supply agreements with various enterprises.

The environmental-friendly IGCC technology is estimated to help save 250,000 tons of coal consumption annually, compared with power plants of the same capacity.

The efficiency of desulfurization during gas production is to be greatly improved, and at the same time, sulfur dioxide emission is to be reduced to a level comparable to natural gas-based electricity production, the company said.

Last December, the Hong Kong-listed company raised RMB 3.34 billion (US$426 million) in its first share sale on the mainland. 500 million RMB-denominated shares were sold at RMB 6.68 each.