New coal mines announced in China

BEIJING, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- China Guodian Corp. announced it has agreed to invest $2.81 billion with its partner to build a coal mine and power plant in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.

A partnership between China Guodian's northeastern subsidiary and Heilongjiang Longxing International Resource Development Group will result in a 4,000 megawatt power plant and a coal mine with a capacity of 20 million tons a year, the National Development and Reform Commission said Thursday.

China Guodian signed initial agreements with the two other northeastern provinces, Liaoning and Jilin, last week to invest in possible power generation and water treatment projects.

China is the world's biggest coal producer and consumer and uses coal to generate two-thirds of its power. To keep up with the increasing demand from utilities, the mining companies are increasing capacity.

The NDRC also said Datong Coal Mine Group, China's second-largest coal producer by capacity, and a partner agreed to invest at least 2.1 billion yuan to build a coal mine in the northern province of Shanxi to meet demand.

The plan is to increase use of renewable energy in China significantly by 2020. The eastern coastal region around Shanghai could potentially produce 750,000 megawatts of offshore windpower. A leading position in the offshore windpower sector will be important for power companies to realize their windpower targets.