By Jane Morse
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington - Technical assistance from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has resulted in the signing of a $56 million contract between the U.S. company Caterpillar Inc. and China's Shanxi Jincheng Anthracite Coal Mining Group (JMG).

According to a USTDA announcement released May 19 in Beijing, the contract covers the provision of gas engines and other equipment and services for a 120-megawatt coal mine/coal bed methane power plant that will be owned and operated by JMG and its partners.  (See related article.)

USTDA had funded technical assistance to JMG as part the ongoing U.S. effort to promote clean energy resources in China based on the country's abundant coal supply while strengthening U.S. commercial interests.

In 2004, USTDA provided a $502,850 grant to JMG for preliminary project design, technical specifications and procurement assistance related to the implementation of the innovative power plant project.

The USTDA funding supported a contract between JMG and SCS Engineers Inc. of Long Beach, California.  SCS assisted JMG in defining equipment specifications and facilitated the bid evaluation of equipment suppliers.

The $120 million power plant project, which has received funding support from the Asian Development Bank, will be the largest power facility of its type in the world.  The project will help spur greater Chinese efforts to produce clean coal-based power in Shanxi province, one of the country's principal coal-producing provinces and one of the more polluted provinces in terms of air quality.

The project demonstrates the growing cooperation between U.S. and Chinese energy-sector interests in using clean energy sources targeted under the Asia Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate, a priority energy and environmental initiative of the Bush administration.

Since 2001, USTDA has funded more than 80 activities supporting important development objectives in China.

For more information on U.S. policies, see The United States and China and Energy Policy.

 

The text of the release is available on the USTDA Web site.