China Machinery Engineering : President Zhang Chun Leads Delegation to Investigate British Gas Turbine Project

The building of the Belt and Road has become the new pivot of China's diplomacy and economy and brought new opportunities to overseas markets for EPC enterprises. Located in the western part of the 'Belt and Road',Britain also takes the initiative to dovetail its 'Northern England Economic Belt' and 'Northern Powerhouse' strategies and withthe 'Belt and Road' Initiative. Some power plant projects attract the attention of CMEC and China National Electric Engineering Corporation (CNEEC). CMEC will act as a project investor to participate in the development of these projects and accelerate DCO implementation. As a potential EPC contractor, CNEEC will implement the plan determination, concept design, quotation and signing of the EPC contract fora project.

From May 17 to 20, 2017, Zhang Chun, President of CMEC and Chairman of CNEEC, led the CMEC/CNEEC team to investigate a gas turbine project in the UK and visited the UK Department of Trade and Investment and related consulting, design and financing institutions.

President Zhang's team investigated the industrial park where the project is locatedand visited the park and the NPL team,theowner of the power plant. The two sides conducted activeand efficient communications. The talks were held to demonstrate and explore the way to building a cooperation model for constructing an industrial park and a power plant, garbage power plants and underground gas storages within the park. By understanding the information and analyzing the situation, the Chinese team and NPL team signed a principled investment cooperation agreement.

The delegation also visited representatives of the Investment and Trade Department to conduct detailed consultation and verification on the British market situation and the Uk's support policies for foreign investors; it met with well-known consulting organizations to study the general statusof British electricity market, existing electricity price, market trading mechanism and future trend of electricity pricing; it visited Black & Veach, UK, for long, detailed and efficientdiscussions on implementation details of the UK engineering market, electricity market transactions, and necessary licensing and boundary conditions for construction projects; and it also paid an official visit to Barclays bank for investigating implementation procedures of and holding discussions on the principles and schemes of related financing and loans.

On May 20, the delegation met with Jin Xu, Commercial Minister-Counsellor of China to the UK, reported on the projectand won support from the Counsellor. On May 24, Jin led a delegation to investigate the project site and met with the project owner.

In the practicalinvestigation, the delegation led by President Zhang Chun achieved remarkable results by taking a detailed and targeted approach to understandingthe UK power market environment and policy and communicatingwith project owners and signing the investment cooperation agreement, so as to prepare the development of the project. The British gas turbine project is a targeted andefficientpractice activity for exploring a new model of cooperation conducted by CNEEC with CMEC's excellentresources under the leadership of CMEC. It is believedthat this move promotes the integration of CNEEC into CMEC's operation and building of a new pattern for CMEC development.