China Starts Coal Storage Plan     

The National Development and Reform Commission has reportedly authorized China Shenhua Energy Co., Ltd. to construct ten coal reserve facilities across the nation. The company is now choosing sites for the projects which will be built near main power generating areas.
   The strategic reserves for coal should be different from that of petroleum in China, citing a scholar saying. "To build coal reserves facilities is aimed at easing the bottleneck in railway transport capacity, as our coal supply is sufficient in terms of volume," he said.
   An executive at Kailuan Group said the mission of China's coal reserves is to meet urgent supply and such projects should be built for a wide coverage. A reasonable choice of sites and scientific management could help meet emergent supply in regions in different times, ease the imbalance between supply and demand in certain areas and safeguard China's energy security.
    Construction on the first national level coal reserve base in Shandong province began in Longkou, on the east end of the Jiaodong peninsula on May 13th. The project costs RMB530 million in the first phase, which will come on stream in September with a designed supply capacity of 10 million t/a. In a longer term, the capacity will be expanded to 50 million t/a, enough to supply more than half of the Jiaodong peninsula's demand and making the project a key component in Shandong's energy security system.