China's first nuclear power project with minority private capital investment, situated in the eastern province of Zhejiang, connected its No. 1 generation unit to the power grid on Thursday.
The China General Nuclear (CGN) Zhejiang San'ao project is the first nuclear power project in China to incorporate private investment. An investment arm of Geely Technology Group has a 2 percent stake in the first phase of the plant, which comprises the No. 1 and 2 generation units.
Private capital investment in the second phase of the project, which includes another two units, has been increased to 10 percent as the country encourages more private investment in the nuclear power sector.
Following the grid connection, the generation unit will start on-load trial operations and conduct power output increases and various performance tests before official commercial operations commence.
The power station, located in Cangnan County in the city of Wenzhou, is designed to operate six units of a domestically developed third-generation reactor, the Hualong One. Three units have either already been built or are currently under construction.
"Once the construction of the six Hualong One units is completed, the power station will have an estimated annual generating capacity of over 54 billion kilowatt-hours, almost equivalent to the current total social electricity consumption of Wenzhou City. This will meet the annual electricity demand for production and living of over 5 million people, reduce consumption of standard coal by more than 16.35 million tonnes per year, and cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 50 million tonnes," said Ding Jingying, deputy general manager at CGN Cangnan Power Company Limited.
Ding emphasized that since debuting in 2021, these same units have become operational all over the country, as well as two in Pakistan. Many more are set to begin operations in the coming years in and outside China.
"At present, Hualong One ranks first in the world in terms of the number of units under construction and in operation. It is the primary choice for the batch construction of nuclear power generation plants in China and also the primary choice for China's nuclear power to go global," he said.
China's first private-invested nuclear power project connected to grid
