As the world seeks to phase down use of coal, China’s biggest coal-fired power plant has just finished construction and entered operation on Dec. 28.
The Shanghaimiao plant, located in the country’s top coal-producing region of Inner Mongolia, said on Tuesday that its first of four 1,000-megawatt units was online after passing a 168 hour period of trials.
The plant will supply power to China’s eastern coastal Shandong Province.
The thermal power plant is operated by the Guodian Power Shanghaimiao Corporation, a subsidiary of the centrally-owned China Energy Investment Corporation.
China, where coal-fired plants generate more than two-thirds of its electricity, pledged to reduce its reliance on coal as part of global efforts to tackle climate change, but to do so only after 2025.
![A Chinese resident looks out the window of her house next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi Province, China, on Nov. 26, 2015. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F11%2F17%2FGettyImages-500863152-600x389.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
China’s State Grid Corporation said in a December report that energy security concerns mean the country is likely to build as much as 150 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity over the 2021-2025 period, bringing its total to 1,230 GW ahead of its 2025 deadline.