As the main power source in Hubei Province, thermal power will continue to play a "pillar" role in meeting the upcoming peak power consumption in winter. According to several power generation enterprises in the province, all their power plants are making every effort to organize coal supply since the start of winter to ensure a safe and stable supply of electric power and heat on cold days.

Coal is the key to thermal power generation. About 2,000 wagons of coal for power generation are delivered to Hubei via railway on average every day since the end of November. The 20 power plants in the province receive about 170,000 tonnes of coal every day. Currently, the province's thermal power plants have 5.52 million tonnes of coal in stock, enough for the operation of 21.8 days.

All power generation enterprises are also actively organizing coal supply. Huadian Hubei Power Generation Co., Ltd. is the largest gas-fired power generation and coal-fired power generation enterprise in the province with a total installed capacity of over 7.7 million kilowatts in Hubei. Since the start of winter, the company has designated a special team for coal supply from Yulin and maintained three resident work groups in Yulin, Shaanxi Province to carry out contract negotiation, financial support, and transfer of coal received at mines to ensure that not a single gram of coal is wasted. By the end of November, 1.18 million tonnes of coal were shipped to the company under long-term contracts signed in the second half of the year.

This year, CR Power Central China has secured the supply of 3 million tonnes of coal from Shaanxi and Shanxi, and designated personnel to work at the mines to ensure shipping. A management member of the company noted that their people had to stay at the mines for at least two months, be on standby 24 hours a day, coordinate the shipment at the railway station platform at any time, and work closely with the coal mines and the platforms. Their tasks are onerous.

Through the unremitting efforts of frontline personnel and those at home, CR Power has a stock of 1.003 million tonnes of coal at its thermal power plants in Xianning, Yichang, and Xiantao. The stock can support the operation for 25 days if the daily coal consumption is assumed to be 39,000 tonnes or 85% of the daily consumption at full load. The stock is expected to strongly support the fuel demand in peak days in winter.

As for emergency support, Hubei Energy Coal Investment Co., Ltd. has continuously increased its efforts to ensure the coal supply. Currently, the Jingzhou Coal Port stores more than 300,000 tonnes of coal and is ready to respond to the emergency needs of power plants in the province.