China's largest thermal power plant, currently under construction, has completed its expansion with the addition of a new unit to meet the surging demand for electricity during the summer months.
Beilun Power Station's Unit 8 was put into operation on Sunday after completing a full-load trial operation lasting 168 hours.
Located in Beilun District, Ningbo City, in eastern China's Zhejiang Province, Beilun Power Station is the primary power source for eastern China.
The expansion project, which includes the addition of Units 8 and 9, each with a capacity of one million kilowatts, adopts multiple advanced technologies. This results in a coal consumption rate of 257.24 grams per kilowatt-hour, comparatively low when measured against other domestic facilities.
During this summer's peak demand period, both new units will be operational, making Beilun Power Station the largest thermal power plant in China, with an installed capacity of 7.34 million kilowatts.
"During the 168-hour full-load trial operation of Unit 8, all system equipment functioned smoothly, and the technical indicators met our expectations. Once operational, Unit 8 is expected to generate 6 billion kWh of electricity annually. Meanwhile, Unit 9 is currently being installed and debugged at an accelerated pace. After it is put into operation by the end of the year, the annual electricity generation of Beilun power station will exceed 40 billion kWh," said Sun Cheng, director of the engineering management department of Beilun power station.
Beilun Power Station is effectively leveraging its advantages of large units and high capacity to ensure a reliable electricity supply during the summer months. As of Saturday, the station has maintained an output of nearly 100 million kWh of electricity per day for 18 consecutive days.
China's largest thermal power plant under construction expands to meet surging demand in summer
