A ground breaking ceremony takes place at the Jinshan Thermal Power Plant in Tumd Left Banner in Hohhot on May 31. [Photo/Inner Mongolia Daily]

An expansion project for the Jinshan Thermal Power Plant started construction in Tumd Left Banner in Hohhot, capital city of North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region on May 31, according to local officials.

The project is being funded and built by Inner Mongolia Energy Investment Group Co with a total investment of 4.99 billion yuan ($699.4 million).

The plant has a designed installed capacity of 2 × 660,000 kilowatt units and is scheduled to be put into operations in October, 2020.

Once complete, the expanded plant’s annual power generation will be able to reach 7.26 billion kWh and it will have the capacity to heat 30 million square meters.

Local officials said that the construction of thermal power plants was an important measure to promote clean heating and minimize pollution in Hohhot.