Hunan Chuangyuan power station

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Hunan Chuangyuan power station (湖南五强集团创元电厂) is a retired 700-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Hunan Province, China.

Location

The map below shows the location of the plant, in Taoyuan County, Changde Prefecture, Hunan Province.

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Background on Plant

Hunan Chuangyuan power station is a two-unit coal-fired power plant with a total capacity of 700 MW. It provides power to an aluminum smelter. The plant was completed in 2006, and is owned by Hunan Wuqiang Group.

In 2014, a reporter from the Beijing News visited Pantang, a village next to the aluminum smelter and coal plant. According to China Dialogue, the reporter found "a toxic cocktail of fluoride from the aluminum smelter and coal ash had been illegally dumped in the valley. Tangerines irrigated by the polluted groundwater had shriveled and developed tumors, foreshadowing an outbreak of cancer that killed at least 10 villagers."

Following the exposé, the Hunan Environmental Protection Bureau fined Hunan Wuqiang Group 100,000 yuan (US$14,530). The case also prompted the bureau to launch a broader environmental campaign to shut down outmoded, law-violating factories in the province. The idea was established as a key national policy by the China State Council in 2013.

According to China Dialogue: "In a 2013 overcapacity policy, the State Council explicitly directed [heavy] industries to “go out” to new markets as a solution [to the closing of polluting plants in China]. Another directive focused on coal and iron overcapacity called on China’s state-owned banks to provide financial support for the industries to go abroad."

The aluminum smelter and power plant were shut down in 2016. The equipment of the two units were transferred to Cambodia, to be used in the Sihanoukville CIIDG power station 2.

Transaction records show that the two Chuangyuan coal power units were sold for 218 million yuan ($21.7 million) to Chinese company Kasen International, which specializes in used power plant equipment and formed a joint venture with a Cambodian real estate mogul to develop the Steung Hav special economic zone in Cambodia, modeled after Shenzhen, China.

Plant Details

• Sponsor: Hunan Chengtong Technology Group
• Parent company: Hunan Wuqiang Group
• Location: Taoyuan County, Changde Prefecture, Hunan Province, China
• Coordinates: 29.1973729, 111.559684 (exact)
• Status: Retired (2016)
• Gross capacity: 700 MW (Units 1 & 2: 350 MW)
• Type: Subcritical
• In service: 2006
• Coal type:
• Coal source:
• Source of financing:

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