World's Most Advanced Coal-Fired Power Unit Achieves Full Commercial Operation
World's Most Advanced Coal-Fired Power Unit Achieves Full Commercial Operation
A landmark achievement in global power generation was reached on July 28, 2026, when the world's first 630°C ultra-supercritical secondary reheat coal-fired power unit-a 1,000 MW demonstration project-entered full commercial operation. The unit set four world records: the highest reheat steam temperature (631°C), the highest main steam pressure (35.5 MPa), the highest thermal efficiency (exceeding 50%), and the lowest coal consumption rate (245.74 grams per kilowatt-hour). These figures represent the absolute upper limits of current coal-fired power technology.
The boiler, the powerhouse of the unit, pushed pressure-bearing, temperature-resistance, and energy-efficiency metrics to industry extremes. To achieve precise control of wall temperature deviation across all operating conditions, the project team developed a multi-dimensional temperature deviation "flattening" technology, ensuring stable main steam temperature of 616°C and two-stage reheat steam temperature of 631°C. The project also marked the world's first engineering application of domestically developed G115 advanced martensitic heat-resistant steel, breaking the long-standing foreign monopoly on high-temperature alloy materials. Overall equipment localization reached 98.89%, with four types of new high-temperature specialty steels applied in the project.
The turbine, serving as the energy conversion core, faced the world's highest design temperature and pressure. Developers broke through traditional foreign high-pressure rotor technology pathways, adopting an entirely new composition design and developing proprietary dissimilar-material automatic welding processes to fully meet the 631°C high-temperature service requirements. The ultra-high-pressure cylinder adopted an optimized double-cylinder structure, delivering significantly enhanced pressure-bearing performance to accommodate 35.5 MPa ultra-high main steam pressure. The generator, equipped with advanced technologies including stator flexible connection and rotor coil end elastic support systems, demonstrated the capability for 0 to 100% load deep peak-shaving operation-critical for integrating variable renewable energy sources into the grid.
Upon full capacity operation, the project saves 208,000 tons of standard coal annually and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 540,000 tons per year-equivalent to planting a forest the size of over 2,000 standard soccer fields. The successful operation of both units marks the full maturity of China's domestically developed 630°C ultra-supercritical thermal power complete technology, new materials, and equipment supply chains, providing a complete engineering template for batch construction of similar units domestically and for exporting high-efficiency thermal power technology to global markets.
In a parallel development, a major breakthrough in clean combustion technology was achieved in June 2026. Researchers successfully demonstrated 50% green hydrogen co-firing by heat input ratio in a 40 MW coal-fired boiler, along with 100% pure hydrogen combustion-a world first-. The technology employs a fully self-developed low-nitrogen burner designed specifically for hydrogen-coal co-combustion, establishing a full-process safety protection system from hydrogen delivery to in-furnace combustion-. When using green hydrogen, the technology enables a 50% reduction in both coal consumption and carbon emissions, with significant synergistic nitrogen oxide reduction-. This breakthrough opens a new pathway for existing coal-fired units to achieve substantial carbon reduction, positioning hydrogen-coal co-firing as a viable retrofit solution for the existing fleet.
