The nameplate of China Power United Heavy Duty Gas Turbine Technology Co., Ltd (the Company) was unveiled in Shanghai on September 28, 2014. The Company was jointly established by CPI, Harbin Electric Corp., Dongfang Electric Corp. and Shanghai Electric Group, with CPI President LU Qizhou being the Chairman.

Known as the “crown jewels” of the equipment manufacturing industry, gas turbines represent the state-of-the-art technology in the sector. While China’s equipment manufacturing technologies have made remarkable headway in over 30 years since reform and opening up, key components based on the core technologies including gas turbine design and high temperature component fabrication are still reliant on importation, which not only hinders the healthy development of China’s gas turbine industry, but also inflicted high costs on gas turbine operators in China.

Under the support of the government and industry experts, CPI, Harbin Electric Corp., Dongfang Electric Corp., Shanghai Electric Group and Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with other organizations, established the joint team between equipment manufacturing and power generating companies in 2011 to develop home-grown gas turbines. Achievements so far include pre-engineering of the 300MW F class heavy duty turbines, selection of technical solutions for the compressor, the combustor, the turbine and the control system, study on materials for high temperature components, initial establishment of the design systems for heavy duty gas turbines and heat-resistant materials, as well as development of the plan to set up a platform for the experimental verification of heavy duty gas turbines.

The Company was incorporated so that the self-development of gas turbines can be undertaken by a dedicated entity. Apart from the current shareholders, China Datang Corp., China Huadian Corp. and Chinese Academy of Sciences will also inject capital into the Company, making its investors to encompass fields of equipment manufacturing, power generating and scientific research. The Company is open to more investors from related enterprises and research institutes.

The Company is specialized in the design, R&D and experimental verification of gas turbines, the development, transfer, consultancy and services of related technologies, and the construction management, operation and maintenance of pilot gas turbine power plants. The Company is committed to breaking technological bottlenecks to develop proprietary core technologies for gas turbines. It will be market-driven and will make the most of the cooperation among the government, enterprises and research institutes.