# Meixin captive power station
**Meixin captive power station** (陕煤集团陕西有色美鑫产业投资公司自备电厂), also known as the **Jinyang power plant** (锦阳电厂), is an operating coal-fired captive power station of at least 1,400 MW in Dongjiahe, Yaozhou District, Tongchuan, Shaanxi, China.[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) It supplies power and heat to the adjacent aluminum-magnesium alloy production complex of Shaanxi Meixin Industrial Investment Co Ltd, a joint venture of [Shaanxi Non-ferrous Metals Holding Group](https://www.edgepedia.org/shaanxi-non-ferrous-metals-holding-group) and Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group.[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Dongjiahe, Yaozhou District, Tongchuan, Shaanxi; coordinates 34.965281, 108.975844 (WGS 84)[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) |
| Capacity and units | 4 × 350 MW supercritical coal units with combined heat and power; total at least 1,400 MW[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) |
| Start years | Units 1 and 2 in 2016; units 3 and 4 in 2022[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) |
| Ownership | Shaanxi Meixin Industrial Investment Co Ltd (100%), held by Shaanxi Non-ferrous Metals Holding Group (66.0%) and Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Co Ltd (34.0%)[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) |
| Captive use | Both heat and power for aluminum production; coal sourced domestically[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) |
| Estimated CO2 | 6.0 million tonnes per year, with an estimated 3.0 billion US dollar investment need for conversion to solar-wind-battery supply[2](https://www.switchcoal.org/en/region/shaanxi) |
| 2024 output | 7.11 billion kWh generated, of which 4.239 billion kWh from captive units 1-2 and 2.871 billion kWh from grid-selling units 3-4[3](https://www.yousergroup.com/SubModule/Detail.aspx?channel_id=2&classId=47&id=17982) |
## Purpose and setting
The plant was proposed by Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group and Shaanxi Youser Group as a 4 × 350 MW coal plant to support aluminum-magnesium alloy production in Yaozhou District, with original operation planned for 2016.[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) It sits inside the Dongjiahe circular economy industrial park in Tongchuan, where Shaanxi Meixin built a coal-electricity-aluminum chain: a 300,000-tonne-per-year prebaked anode line, a 1.2-million-tonne coal mine, the 300,000-tonne aluminum-magnesium alloy line with the captive power station, 200,000 tonnes of aluminum deep processing, and a logistics park handling 5 to 8 million tonnes a year, together an investment of about 15 billion yuan.[4](https://www.zrty2009.com/view-113.html) The aluminum-magnesium project itself was budgeted at 3.3 billion yuan on 810 mu of land, and the power station phase II at 2.2 billion yuan for two 350 MW units.[5](https://www.yousergroup.com/SubModule/Detail.aspx?channel_id=2&classId=47&id=4860)
The economics rest on captive power. Electrolytic aluminum is electricity-intensive, and a Shaanxi investment promotion document notes that companies cooperating with Meixin can receive captive power at no more than 0.40 yuan per kWh.[6](https://huizhilianheng.cn/gaochunlvxiangmu.pdf) The parent group's bond prospectus describes the design as a 450,000-tonne-per-year electrolytic aluminum line with 4 × 350 MW generating units, of which the company holds quota indicators for 300,000 tonnes a year.[7](https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H2_AN202402261623591593_1.pdf)
## Units and technology
All four units are 350 MW supercritical, coal-fired machines with combined heat and power capability.[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) The main equipment came from the Harbin Boiler Works, Dongfang Turbine, and Dongfang Electric Machinery combination, and the plant uses supercritical indirect air-cooled units with ultra-low emission design.[8](https://al.iyunhui.com/news-64054/) When unit 2 passed its 168-hour full-load trial on 16 June 2016, its hyperbolic reinforced-concrete air-cooled tower was described as the largest-diameter air cooling tower in China at the time, and the plant applied wet electrostatic precipitators with high-efficiency desulfurization and denitration.[9](https://www.china5e.com/news/news-948890-1.html) A company profile of plant manager [Sun Yang](https://www.edgepedia.org/sun-yang) states the stack is 240 m tall and the indirect air-cooling tower 179.5 m, described as the tallest in China, and reports for units 1 and 2 a发电煤耗 of 302 g/kWh, an auxiliary power rate of 6 percent, and a load factor of 65 percent.[10](https://www.yousergroup.com/wap/Info.aspx?classId=269&id=6344)
## Regulatory history
**Permit problems.** Both the aluminum-magnesium plant and the power plant began construction without the needed permits, lacking both environmental impact assessment and [National Development and Reform Commission](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-development-and-reform-commission) approval. The project sponsors were fined and ordered to stop construction in 2014, and again in 2015; despite the orders, units 1 and 2 were completed in June and July 2016.[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) In the 2018 accountability notice issued after the first central environmental inspection, the [Ministry of Ecology and Environment](https://www.edgepedia.org/ministry-of-ecology-and-environment) recorded that the provincial development and reform commission's March 2013 filing approval for the 300,000-tonne aluminum-magnesium project exceeded the authority granted by the [State Council](https://www.edgepedia.org/state-council)'s investment system decision and conflicted with documents curbing overcapacity, and that a July 2015 joint confirmation allowed the project to continue illegal construction; several provincial officials received party discipline sanctions.[11](https://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk15/201803/t20180329_630076.html)
**Capacity expansion finding.** In May 2019 the central inspection group's feedback on Shaanxi stated that Shaanxi Meixin Industrial Investment Co had failed to implement the required like-for-like capacity substitution and had without authorization expanded the 300,000-tonne-per-year electrolytic aluminum capacity, which had no compliant procedures, to 450,000 tonnes.[12](https://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk15/201905/t20190513_702625.html) A December 2019 rectification document required Tongchuan city, the provincial state-assets commission, and Shaanxi Non-ferrous Group to supervise the demolition of the illegally added 150,000 tonnes of electrolytic aluminum capacity so that it could not form new capacity, and to re-file the original 300,000-tonne project under the 2015 cleanup rules for steel, electrolytic aluminum, and shipbuilding.[13](https://www.mee.gov.cn/ywgz/zysthjbhdc/dczg/201912/W020191231321249980555.pdf)
**Units 3 and 4.** As of 2018 units 3 and 4 were under construction with operation planned for 2019, and in May 2019 China's Environment Ministry faulted Meixin Industry Investment Co for operating illegally.[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) A November 2020 provincial government report indicated the units may have been operating. Unit 3 reportedly passed its 168-hour trial run in May 2022 and unit 4 by June 2022, when unit 4 entered commercial operation and completed the 2 × 350 MW phase II project.[1](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station) • [14](https://www.sohu.com/a/560307534_121123735)
## Operation
The plant runs in two roles. Units 1 and 2 are captive units whose output is consumed internally, lowering the electricity cost of the electrolytic aluminum operation, while units 3 and 4 are public units that sell to the grid and provide peak-shaving and support services in Shaanxi's auxiliary service market, where the plant is listed with 700 MW of registered capacity.[3](https://www.yousergroup.com/SubModule/Detail.aspx?channel_id=2&classId=47&id=17982) • [15](https://xbj.nea.gov.cn/upload/2022/09/07/1662520936944000.pdf) In 2023 the plant generated 6.310 billion kWh, finishing its annual target a month early; in 2024 it generated 7.11 billion kWh by 26 December, 31 days ahead of its 6.5 billion kWh target, with captive units 1 and 2 exceeding 4 billion kWh for the first time and units 3 and 4 earning 15.8934 million yuan from the two-rules and ancillary service markets, plus more than 67 million yuan in capacity electricity fee compensation.[16](https://yousergroup.com/SubModule/Detail.aspx?channel_id=2&classId=47&id=15617) • [3](https://www.yousergroup.com/SubModule/Detail.aspx?channel_id=2&classId=47&id=17982)
The plant's emissions profile places it among the mid-sized coal stations of Shaanxi: SwitchCoal estimates 6.0 million tonnes of CO2 per year and a 3.0 billion dollar investment need to convert its supply profitably to solar, wind, and battery resources by 2030.[2](https://www.switchcoal.org/en/region/shaanxi) Nationally, captive coal power for aluminum has come under tightening policy: the share of captive capacity in China's electrolytic aluminum industry fell from about 75 percent at the end of 2015 to about 65 percent by the end of 2020, and a November 2021 central document envisaged that in principle no new self-provided coal-fired units would be added.[17](https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/adc/public-record/2024-09/656_-_1_-_non-confidential_attachment_15_-_ec_china_significant_distortions_working_domcument_-_apr_2024.pdf)
## References
1. [Meixin captive power station, Global Energy Monitor (Global Coal Plant Tracker)](https://www.gem.wiki/Meixin_captive_power_station)
2. [Coal power plants in Shaanxi, China, SwitchCoal](https://www.switchcoal.org/en/region/shaanxi)
3. ["电"力十足 加速前行—陕西美鑫锦阳电厂提前31天完成全年发电任务, Shaanxi Youser Group, 3 January 2025](https://www.yousergroup.com/SubModule/Detail.aspx?channel_id=2&classId=47&id=17982)
4. [陕西美鑫年产30万吨铝镁合金项目配套（4×350MW）动力设施工程DCS系统, ZR Technology](https://www.zrty2009.com/view-113.html)
5. [提质增效在有色之一：陕西美鑫公司二期项目全面开工, Shaanxi Youser Group, 2016](https://www.yousergroup.com/SubModule/Detail.aspx?channel_id=2&classId=47&id=4860)
6. [年产20万吨高纯铝项目 (Shaanxi investment promotion document)](https://huizhilianheng.cn/gaochunlvxiangmu.pdf)
7. [陕西省有色金属控股集团有限责任公司2024年度第二期超短期融资券募集说明书](https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H2_AN202402261623591593_1.pdf)
8. [东方汽轮机有限公司总经理张文峰一行到美鑫公司回访, 2018](https://al.iyunhui.com/news-64054/)
9. [国内直径最大空冷塔电厂超临界机组投产, China5e, 23 June 2016](https://www.china5e.com/news/news-948890-1.html)
10. [一个不知疲倦的"机器人"——记陕西美鑫公司锦阳电厂高级工程师孙阳, Shaanxi Meixin, 9 November 2018](https://www.yousergroup.com/wap/Info.aspx?classId=269&id=6344)
11. [陕西省通报中央环境保护督察移交生态环境损害责任追究问题问责情况, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, 29 March 2018](https://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk15/201803/t20180329_630076.html)
12. [中央第二生态环境保护督察组向陕西省反馈"回头看"及专项督察情况, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, 13 May 2019](https://www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk15/201905/t20190513_702625.html)
13. [陕西省中央环境保护督察"回头看"及大气污染防治专项督察整改方案 (excerpt), Ministry of Ecology and Environment, December 2019](https://www.mee.gov.cn/ywgz/zysthjbhdc/dczg/201912/W020191231321249980555.pdf)
14. [首个集成东方智慧产品的国网改造项目圆满收官, Sohu, 2022](https://www.sohu.com/a/560307534_121123735)
15. [西北监能市场【2022】27号：陕西省调峰辅助服务市场分摊结果, National Energy Administration Northwest Bureau](https://xbj.nea.gov.cn/upload/2022/09/07/1662520936944000.pdf)
16. [63.10亿kw.h！陕西美鑫锦阳电厂提前1个月完成全年发电目标任务, Shaanxi Youser Group, 2023](https://yousergroup.com/SubModule/Detail.aspx?channel_id=2&classId=47&id=15617)
17. [EC China significant distortions working document (captive power in electrolytic aluminum), Australian Department of Industry, April 2024](https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/adc/public-record/2024-09/656_-_1_-_non-confidential_attachment_15_-_ec_china_significant_distortions_working_domcument_-_apr_2024.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Energy technology › Coal-fired power › Captive and industrial coal power stations*
*Initially written Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license