The Dalian Power Plant is located on the outskirts of Dalian, on the coast of Bohai Bay. It has an installed capacity of 1,400MW and consists of four 350MW coal-fired units. Two units of the Dalian Power Plant Phase I use equipment produced by the Mitsubishi Consortium and commenced commercial operations in September and December 1988, respectively. The equipment used in the Dalian Phase II expansion was supplied by an international consortium consisting of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Mitsui Babcock Energy Ltd., U.K., etc. Construction commenced in March 1996 and the coal-fired units commenced operations successively in December 1998.
Coal supply for the Dalian Power Plant is obtained from several coal producers located mostly in northern Shanxi Province. Coal is transported by rail from the mines to Qinhuangdao port and shipped by special 27,000 ton automatic unloading ships to the wharf at the Dalian Power Plant. The wharf is owned and maintained by the Dalian Port Authority and is capable of handling 30,000 ton vessels. The Dalian Power Plant typically stores 200,000 tons of coal on site. Coal consumption rates for power sold were 322gram/kWh for Phase I and 329gram/kWh for Phase II in 1999; and 322gram/kWh for Phase I and 318 gram/kWh for Phase II in 2000. Currently, electricity generated by the Dalian Power Plant is delivered to the Northeast Power Grid for sale.