As a leading enterprise in China’s large-scale power engineering EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contracting and the export of complete sets of electromechanical equipment, Harbin Electric International (HEI) is establishing a new business development pattern characterized by green, low-carbon operations and domestic and international dual circulation. Deeply grasping the inherent requirements of the profound adjustment in energy supply and consumption structures, the company adheres to a high-end, intelligent, and green development direction, and continuously optimizes its layout in strategic emerging industries, including wind power, solar power, energy storage, biomass, and the “Integration of Three Retrofits” (energy conservation, heating, and flexibility retrofits).

Last October, Unit 2 of the Tianjin Guoneng Panshan Innovation, Upgrading, and Life Extension Retrofit Project, undertaken by HEI, officially entered the installation phase. Prior to this, the life extension retrofit of Panshan Unit 1, also undertaken by HEI, was successfully certified for an additional 30 years of operation, with all key indicators in its performance assessment tests exceeding design specifications. As China’s first in-service coal power project to achieve a cross-generational upgrade in both temperature and pressure along with a comprehensive 30-year life extension, it serves as a premier major technical equipment demonstration project in the country's energy sector and sets a benchmark for the innovative upgrade and life extension of aging power units both domestically and internationally. During the retrofit process, HEI employed advanced, innovative technologies - including cross-generational parameter upgrades, large-capacity heating, deep peak regulation, and thermal-electric decoupling - to further enhance the unit's safety, reliability, economic efficiency, and flexibility, thereby achieving the renewal of aging equipment and the comprehensive upgrade of the unit’s technical parameters. Post-retrofit, the unit’s coal consumption for power generation has been drastically reduced while its heating capacity has significantly increased, ushering it into a brand-new lifecycle. Currently, this stands as the only project in China and the first globally where an in-service coal power plant has achieved a comprehensive 30-year life extension through cross-generational innovative upgrades. The Panshan project has verified that the technical roadmap for the upgrade and life extension of aging coal power units is both feasible and economically viable; it has forged an industrial development path in the new-generation coal power upgrading initiative characterized as “technically achievable, economically affordable, and commercially replicable,” offering a novel solution for coal-fired units worldwide that are nearing the end of their design lifespan.

According to statistics, in countries along the Belt and Road, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Belarus, there are numerous power units facing the same need for life extension and upgrading retrofits as the Panshan project; by leveraging the retrofit experience accumulated from the Panshan project alongside its expertise in executing overseas projects, HEI will deeply cultivate the retrofit market for Russian-made units, thereby driving Chinese equipment, technology, and manufacturing to go global.

In 2020, HEI officially signed the engineering contract for the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Receiving Terminal Project in the Yantai West Port Area; this project serves as a crucial measure to advance China’s transition towards clean natural gas energy, and it represents another milestone in HEI's efforts to accelerate its “Three Providers” transformation, further implement the national “dual circulation” development strategy, and actively explore new business models in non-power sectors.