The Shenhua Group, parent company of China Shenhua Energy Company (1088), plans to build Asia's biggest thermal power plant in the southern region of Guangxi, the official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
The plant, to be located in the coastal city of Beihai, will consist of eight one gigawatt power generators and will be constructed in "about five years," the report said.

As part of the project, four docks with a handling capacity of 100,000 tonnes each will be built to receive coal from the top coal producer's mines in Indonesia and Australia, it added.

China's total installed generating capacity stood at 966 GW by the end of last year, including 710 GW of thermal power.
 
According to forecasts by the China Electricity Council, the total will increase to 1,437 GW by the end of 2015, and Beijing will need to build another 257 GW of thermal power projects over the period.

Shenhua Energy closed 2.37 percent higher on Friday at HK$34.6.

Meanwhile, China has unveiled a pilot scheme of natural gas pricing that will apply to Guangdong province and Guangxi region, the National Development & Reform Commission said yesterday. The city-gate prices in these two regions will be linked to alternative fuels.