In the early winter of Shanyin County, Shuozhou, nearly 800 builders are fighting hard on the construction site of the Huaneng Shanyin 2 × 1 million kW coal-fired power project, which aims to "increase power while reducing power". According to the relevant person in charge, the civil construction of the project is currently progressing synchronously with the installation of the boiler steel structure. The reason why this project is special and highly anticipated is because it is the pioneering project of our province's first "integrated comprehensive energy base of coal-fired power and new energy". That is to say, it is the first project that carries the complementary functions of "coal power backup, wind and solar power grid connection" and has certain representative significance.

Speaking of this project, preparations have actually started as early as 2009. After 15 years of tempering and perseverance, the window of opportunity opened for the policy of "promoting the big and suppressing the small" finally arrived, and construction officially began in June 2026. Many people may not be familiar with the policy of "pushing the big to suppress the small". It is a structural policy in the power industry, especially in the coal-fired power sector, with the core logic of "building advanced large units and forcibly phasing out outdated small units".

Ultimately, it is about achieving a qualitative improvement in the entire industry while controlling the overall quantity. According to the construction period of "25+2" months for this project, it is expected to reach "positive and negative zero" by the end of 2026, enter the equipment installation stage in 2027, conduct joint debugging and testing at the beginning of 2028, and achieve the production target in the second half of the year. After being put into operation, the two million kilowatt units can consume 5 million tons of raw coal annually and convert it into approximately 15 billion kilowatt hours of clean electricity. At that time, the total installed power capacity of Shanyin County will soar to 4.7 million kilowatts.

Unlike traditional coal-fired power projects, this project combines the dual advantages of "coal-fired power+wind power". Therefore, this project cannot be simply seen as another masterpiece of Shanxi's response to the policy of "promoting the big and suppressing the small", but rather represents a benchmark for energy innovation in Shanxi and even the whole country. That's why, in simple terms, the core logic of this project is only three words, which is "integration". At the time of construction, it was not an isolated coal-fired power project, but was bundled, coordinated, and sent out together with a 4 million kilowatt new energy project. That is, when the wind and solar resources are abundant, new energy is fully utilized, and coal-fired power actively relinquishes space; When weather changes cause fluctuations in the output of new energy, coal-fired power units respond quickly and undergo deep peak shaving. In this way, the coal-fired power generation of the project has begun to transform from a simple "power generation giant" to a "stabilizer" and "regulating valve" for the green and low-carbon transformation of the power grid.

Public information shows that the total investment of the base exceeds 20 billion yuan, and the planned total installed capacity is 6 million kilowatts. Among them, 2 million kilowatts of coal power, 4 million kilowatts of new energy, 66.7% of the installed capacity of clean energy, and about 50% of the annual clean energy power. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that although this project appears to have innovative significance, it still relies on the new technology of "next-generation coal-fired power" to support this logic. Firstly, the unit adopts ultra supercritical parameters, which have extremely high technical requirements.

Secondly, the air cooling system adopts all steel structure intercooling towers, which have certain advantages in water conservation and plant intensification. In addition, there are efficient desulfurization, denitrification, and dust removal facilities that are synchronously equipped, and the required pollutant emissions are zero without effective measures, which is difficult to achieve. In addition, it is important to pay attention to the spatial relationship between the project's location and coal resources. The current project site is close to the washing and transportation center of middling coal Huayu Company. The coal is directly sent from the coal mine to the power plant through the belt. The coal is not landed in the whole process, but transferred locally and sent out in the air.Editor/XuNing