CR's Benchmarks Set up on the Wasteland
02-10-2018 Ningxia Daily

In Haiyuan County, few people do not know CR. On September 28, local students, residents and the media in Haiyuan County entered China Resources Wind Power (Haiyuan) Co., Ltd. to participate in the Clean Energy Month in the theme of "Green Development, Better Life" to get a close look at this well-received local enterprise.

In 2012, CR Group started to provide targeted assistance to Haiyuan County. With the entry of the enterprise, a group of CR employees left their homes in Ningxia and set up a benchmark for CR in the vast wasteland. Li Yan, president of Ningxia Association for Foreign Investment and head of Ningxia regional company of CR Power Northern Region, is one of them.

Green development in Haiyuan boosted by wind power project

In Haiyuan’s Xihua Mountain, 150 wind turbines are twirling around, generating electricity that is connected to the State Grid through a concentric 330 kV substation 70 kilometers away and “flows" to thousands of households.

Xihuashan wind power project in Haiyuan is a 300,000KW wind power project put into operation in the first phase by China Resources Wind Power (Haiyuan) Co., Ltd. The project, which started construction on September 15, 2015 after two years of preparatory work, is one of the most difficult wind power projects in China.

From development to grid-connected operation, the project team of 14 employees working and living in the plateau area with an average altitude of 2500 meters, were faced with many difficulties such as poor production and living conditions and tight construction period, which posed severe challenge on Li Yan. On October 25, 2016, the conference room of the project department was fully packed with the delegates of the construction, supervision and construction units. Faced with a lot of problems complained about by all parties, Li Yan said at the meeting that, with regard to these people, on this condition, 2016 grid-connected power generation is a hard task for the limited team members and under the hard conditions, but they have to complete the work ahead of schedule.

In order to ensure the installation of all parts and components on the 150 wind turbines to achieve zero error and ensure the safe operation of the equipment after installation, fan engineer Li Wei has climbed through every tower as high as 80 meters. He also takes photos of important parts and compares them with the bidding documents after returning to the project department.

On December 16, 2016, the first unit of the project was connected to the grid for power generation, creating an industry record of only 2.5 days for 64 wind turbines after completion of commissioning after 135 days of completion and a successful reverse power transmission. On April 25, 2017, the project will realize all grid-connected power generation. On June 5 of the same year, all 150 wind turbines were put into commercial operation. This wind power plant with a total installed capacity of 300,000 kilowatts can provide 755.7 million KWHs of clean energy every year, generating more than RMB 40 million in annual taxes.

Since CR's Haiyuan Xihuashan 300,000KW Wind Power Project was put into operation, it has successively won the Gold Award for Asian Energy Best Wind Power Project, Global Best Wind Power Project and Power Industry Quality Engineering Award, and has now filed for the National Quality Engineering Award. China Resources Wind Power (Haiyuan) Co., Ltd. was successively rated as "Ningxia Excellent Foreign Investment Enterprise" and "Industry Leading Enterprise" by Ningxia Business Congress and Ningxia Entrepreneur Association.

Performing social responsibility by varied business modes

The Xihuashan Wind Power Plant is built currently with a stretch of artificial forest.

According to the aid agreement between CR Group and Haiyuan County, for every 50,000-kilowatt wind power plant built by CR in Haiyuan County, CR will also contribute RMB 2 million to help Haiyuan County build a “CR Artificial Forest" of economic trees. After the completion of the Haiyuan 1 million kilowatt wind power project, RMB 40 million will be donated cumulatively to the artificial forest project.

Now, the donation of RMB 12 million for the 300,000KW wind power project to be put into operation in the first phase has already been in place, and the corresponding artificial forest has also been completed. Mountain peach, mountain apricot and broad-leaved needles are mixed to form a scene of “spring flowers, summer fruits, autumn leaves and winter green".

In addition to CR artificial forest, CR's grass and livestock integration poverty alleviation project, "Hope Town" project, etc. are also under construction. CR has left footprints everywhere in Haiyuan.

In accordance with the autonomous region's 530 aid plan and Haiyuan County's grass and livestock development strategy, CR Group donated RMB 385 million to develop beef cattle breeding industry, and explored the poverty alleviation model of "CR foundation cow bank", "village collective economic cooperative breeding" and "unable farmers' trusteeship and replacement breeding", driving 3950 households in 75 key poverty-stricken villages in the county to develop beef cattle breeding, while setting a model of sustainable poverty alleviation for the local area.

Along the Haitong Highway connecting Haiyuan County and Guanqiao Township, the CR Hope Town is taking shape. In the future, it will be the center to improve the living conditions of the local people and help the local development of perfume pear industry relying on various business modes of CR.