Since the beginning of the year, the State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC) has made steady progress in a series of major projects. By the end of February, construction had commenced on nearly 160 projects, with a total installed capacity exceeding 40 gigawatts.
Accelerating strategic emerging industry projects
On February 16, the steel-reinforced concrete structure of the 16th floor of the containment building for Unit 3 at the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant was successfully hoisted, laying a solid foundation for large-scale module installation throughout the year. The project team overcame technical challenges, completing the hoisting process in just seven days.
On February 13, the reactor pressure vessel for Unit 1 arrived at the site of the Lianjiang Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong after an eight-day sea journey, marking the project’s transition from civil construction to a new phase of equipment installation.
At the construction site of Bailong Nuclear Power Plant in Guangxi, over a thousand workers are building Unit 1, including the nuclear and conventional islands, module assembly workshops and testing and maintenance buildings, all aiming to complete the first concrete pour for the nuclear island foundation within the year.
In the wind power sector, SPIC’s first offshore wind project in Liaoning — the 400 MW Huayuankou Offshore Wind Power Project in Dalian — is progressing rapidly, with key construction milestones already achieved, including geological drilling for the booster station. The project is now advancing wind turbine foundation drilling and static probing. Meanwhile, the 1.2 GW wind power project in Mulei, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, developed by Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd, has completed site preparation and infrastructure work and is on track to pour the first wind turbine foundation by the end of April.
In the solar sector, the fourth phase of the National Photovoltaic and Energy Storage Experimental Platform (Daqing Base), managed by Huanghe Hydropower Development Co., Ltd, is preparing for construction. The 1-million-kilowatt “Photovoltaic-Pastoral Storage” (Fushan) project in Gonghe County, Qinghai Province, part of China’s second batch of large-scale renewable energy bases, has completed module installation, while Phase I of Weifang wind-solar storage base (180 MW) is now operational, with the remaining phases scheduled for completion within the year. These milestone projects are strengthening the foundation for the high-quality development of the solar industry.
In green hydrogen, China’s largest green ammonia project—Jilin Da’an Wind and Solar Green Hydrogen Integrated Demonstration Project—has completed installation and is expected to begin hydropower-synchronized ammonia production in March, with the first batch of qualified products set for release in the second quarter.
Ensuring energy supply and stability
SPIC is also accelerating the construction of clean coal power projects to ensure stable energy supply. On February 13, electric heavy trucks carrying thermal coal arrived at the site of Guizhou Zhijin Power Plant’s off-site reconstruction project (2×660 MW), marking the project’s readiness for coal intake.
Other key thermal power projects, including the 2×350 MW smart cogeneration project in Tongliao and the 3×660 MW project by Qinghai Investment Group, are progressing smoothly. Meanwhile, expansion projects such as the 2×1,000 MW Phase II project in Caojing by Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd, and the 2×1,000 MW expansion in Binhai by SPIC Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd., are advancing rapidly.
Advancing innovation for future growth
Looking ahead, SPIC is committed to fostering cutting-edge energy technologies and driving the formation of new productive force in the energy sector.
The company established an AI technology task force led by Ph.D. researchers in their 30s to focus on the entire lifecycle of renewable energy projects, from planning and design to construction and operation. Leveraging AI-generated content technology, the team has successfully developed an AI-assisted design system for early-stage renewable power station planning, significantly improving design efficiency. Additionally, SPIC is developing a renewable energy empirical research dataset to enhance industry data quality. On February 24, SPIC reached a strategic agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to collaborate on technological innovation, research commercialization and the development of fourth-generation nuclear technology, including thorium-based molten salt reactors.
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
