Datang Power to Invest $753 Million in 2 Northern Power Plants

By Wang Ying

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Datang International Power Generation Co., the biggest Chinese electricity producer listed in Hong Kong, plans to spend 5.14 billion yuan ($753 million) to build two power stations in northern China to meet demand.

Datang Power will invest 2.98 billion yuan in a power plant in Jinzhou city in Liaoning province and 2.16 billion yuan in a second generator in Tangshan in Hebei province, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange late yesterday.

The utility added 3,612 megawatts of capacity in the first half of this year to meet rising electricity demand in China. Power consumption in the world's fastest-growing major economy increased 11 percent in the first seven months to 2.01 billion megawatt-hours, the China Electricity Council said on Aug. 19.

Datang Power will wholly own the Jinzhou plant, which will have two 300-megawatt generating units. The utility will have an 84 percent stake in the 600-megawatt Fengrun plant in Tangshan, with the rest to be owned by a local investment company.

The Beijing-based utility plans to spend 14.7 billion yuan this year to boost its coal-mining and power-output capacity, Liu Yan, who heads the company's international cooperation department, said in March.

Datang Power said it received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission for the Jinzhou project in June. The country's top economic planning agency has yet to approve the building of the Fengrun plant.

To contact the reporter on this story: Wang Ying in Beijing at wang30@bloomberg.net.