Ningxia to fuel China power need

Ningdong, Ningxia: Construction of major projects in a 50-billion-yuan energy cluster, one of the largest coal chemical bases in Asia, started yesterday in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

The 3,500-sq-km cluster, known as Ningdong Energy-Chemical Base, in which total investment is projected to hit 300 billion yuan by 2020, is part of the government's efforts to develop resources in Western China.

Leading domestic energy companies including State Grid Corp of China and Huadian Power International Corp yesterday started construction of three power plants, three coal mines, one electricity distribution line and one coal-to-petrochemical plant within the base.