Shanghai Pod

China's largest coal-fired power plant, equipped with four 1,000-megawatt generating units, went into operation on Thursday, sources with the China Huaneng Group told Xinhua. The project, located in east China's electricity-deficient Zhejiang Province, cost an investment of 15.6 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion). The first two generating units kicked off production in December 2006. This is also believed to be the world's largest coal-fired power plant built with ultra-supercritical technologies, the highest global standards of the industry, according to the country's leading energy conglomerate. If all the coal-fueled power plants could be substituted with this type of generating units, 200 million tons of coal could be saved and 540 million tons of carbon dioxide emission could be reduced each year. The Chinese government has pledged to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and emission of major pollutants by 10 percent by 2010. Official statistics showe...

Shanghai's Metro network is expanding at an astonishing pace and is expected to cover 1.56 million square meters by 2010. City planners envisage a world-class service, integrating the airport, expressway, rail, Metro and magnetic levitation line (Maglev), geared to handle a daily capacity of 1.1 million people. The subway now occupies 320,000 square meters of space in Shanghai, experts said yesterday at the 2007 Forum on Chinese City Under-Space. Urban construction experts and scholars from across the country discussed plans and hot issues on developing underground infrastructure at the forum's opening in Shanghai. According to Ying Minghong, chairman of Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, by the end of this year the Metro will occupy 680,000 square meters of underground space in the city. "Shanghai has five Metro lines in operation, but by the end of this year there will be eight lines covering more than 230 kilometers with 163 Metro stations," Ying said. "By 2010, ...