During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, China Huadian Corporation LTD. (CHD), accelerated its green transition with greater momentum.
It took the lead in developing new energy bases in barren areas like Gobi deserts with a total installed capacity of nearly 60 million kilowatts, and its total offshore wind power capacity, under various stages of development from planning to construction to operation, has exceeded 10 million kilowatts. It accelerated the construction of the national hydro-wind-solar hybrid demonstration base in the upper reaches of the Jinsha River, with the total installed and under-construction capacity exceeding 14 million kilowatts. China’s first domestically-developed F-class 50-megawatt heavy-duty gas turbine was put into commercial operation at CHD. The restructuring, supporting financing and public REITs (real estate investment trusts) issuance of Huadian Power International Corporation Limited were successfully completed.
Spectacular growth over the years
A view of a major hydropower project operated by China Huadian Corporation LTD. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
As of the end of October 2025, CHD's installed capacity has exceeded 250 million kilowatts, a 53.4 percent increase compared with the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period. The company’s accumulative electricity generation has reached 3.3 trillion kilowatt-hours, which is sufficient to meet the residential electricity consumption needs of the entire country from 2022 to 2024.
In terms of heating supply, the accumulative volume provided by CHD has surpassed 2.24 billion gigajoules, covering an area of 820 million square meters. This makes CHD the second-largest provider in both heating supply and coverage area among its peers in China.
Furthermore, the CHD’s coal production capacity has been raised to 60.6 million tons per year while the level of its clean coal utilization has been significantly enhanced.
Today, CHD ranks first in China in natural gas power generation installed capacity and second in hydropower installed capacity. It is also the largest Chinese power generation investor in ASEAN.
Over the past three years, CHD has consistently achieved record-high performance in its operation and development. The company’s accumulative total profit has reached 96.4 billion yuan ($13.69 billion), with an average annual growth rate of 42.7 percent. The accumulative volume of investment made by CHD has totaled 412.5 billion yuan with an average annual growth rate of 20 percent.
CHD has actively implemented new technologies, equipment and processes for energy conservation and emission reduction. It has carried out energy-saving, carbon reduction, flexibility enhancement and heating retrofit modifications on 167 generating units, driving the transformation in a cleaner, more efficient, and more flexible manner. CHD is the first central state-owned enterprise in China to achieve 100 percent carbon emission compliance for three consecutive years, and has ranked first on the list of "Top 50 Chinese Enterprises’ Contribution to Low-Carbon Development."
Embrace new industries for a brighter future
Over the past five years, CHD has steadfastly advanced industrial upgrading, prioritized the development of renewable energy during structural adjustment, and realized a transformation from a growth mode driven solely by volume to one characterized by both quality and volume.
CHD has built and developed new energy technologies, industries and models related to hydrogen, energy storage, carbon management and digital intelligence. It built China’s first flywheel-lithium battery hybrid energy storage project for combined frequency regulation of fossil-fuel power plants, developed and applied the country’s first megawatt-class proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis hydrogen production system, and put into high-quality operation two flagship demonstration projects — the 25,000-kilowatt off-grid wind power-storage-hydrogen production integrated project in Tieling, Liaoning Province, and the 200,000-kilowatt renewable energy-based green hydrogen production project in Baotou, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. CHD has also accelerated the cultivation and expansion of strategic emerging industries and future-oriented industries, allocating over 70 percent of its investment to these sectors, which now account for 24 percent of the company’s total revenue.
Harmonious coexistence with lush mountains and clear waters
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, CHD prioritized the development of hydro, wind and solar power generation. It vigorously advanced the development of project clusters and bases, including those in Gobi desert barren areas in Northwest China, the hydro-wind-solar hybrid projects in Southwest China, the offshore wind power projects along the coasts, the centralized and distributed projects in East and Central China, as well as the "new energy +" projects in Northeast China. CHD’s installed capacity of renewable energy has exceeded 100 million kilowatts, with clean energy accounting for nearly 60 percent.
At the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China’s first large-scale new energy project with a 6.1 GW transmission channel built in Gobi desert barren areas, and has been completed and put into operation, capable of generating an additional 14.2 billion kWh of green electricity annually.
In the Tengger Desert, the wind-solar-thermal-storage solution has enabled the coordinated and complementary development of multiple energy sources, driving the transformation of resource advantages in western Inner Mongolia into economic strengths.
In river basins such as the upper and middle reaches of the Jinsha River, a cluster of large hydropower stations and hydro-wind-solar hybrid projects have been connected to form a "clean energy corridor," efficiently making the energy supply more diversified.
Greater innovation for greater vitality
A view of the offshore wind power project along the coasts operated by China Huadian Corporation LTD. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Over the past five years, CHD has carried out in-depth cooperation with innovation entities such as scientific research institutes and institutions of higher learning. It has promoted the establishment of three branch labs of State key laboratories, namely the Hydroscience and Engineering, Clean and Efficient Turbomachinery Power Equipment, and Robotics and Systems labs. It has also set up four innovation unions focusing on gas turbines, hydrogen energy, industrial software and artificial intelligence, and built multiple national-level innovation platforms such as the National Energy Distributed Energy R&D (Experiment) Center and the Experimental Platform for Energy Efficiency Testing Technology of Thermal Power Generation Systems.
Taking the lead in giving priority to the application of independent innovation achievements such as major technical equipment, key materials and software, CHD has actively provided application scenarios and established a green channel for the procurement of these new products. The company has won more than 200 scientific and technological awards at the national, ministerial, provincial and industry levels, among which the High-Efficiency Development Technology of Offshore Wind Power was awarded the first prize of the National Award for Science and Technology Progress, and three other achievements won the second prize.
Taking the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) as a new opportunity for development, CHD is forging ahead with resolute determination, broad vision and systematic planning. It is giving full play to its role in technological innovation, industrial oversight and security support, effectively shifting its focus to enhancing core functions and boosting core competitiveness.
(Executive editor: Yuan Ting)
