Li Xiaopeng has resigned as chairman of China Huaneng Group, the country's largest power generation company.

"Li will leave Huaneng due to change of work arrangements," the company's listed arm Huaneng Power International Inc said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday, without elaborating.

Huang Yongda, vice-chairman of Huaneng Group, was appointed acting chairman.

Born in 1959, Li will take charge as deputy governor of Shanxi province, which produces one-fourth of China's coal, said a report of Caijing magazine yesterday.

Li, who has wide experience in the power industry, will help Shanxi province, whose economy is heavily dependent on coal, develop a more diversified energy sector, said the report.

Shanxi will increase its installed power capacity by 25,000 mW by the end of 2010. The province also plans to better utilize its rich energy resources such as coke and coalbed methane.

Described by Huaneng employees as low-key and amiable, Li has steadily led the company in its expansion strategy. In 2003 Huaneng paid $227 million to buy a 50 percent stake of OzGen in Australia, the first time a Chinese power company tapped into the foreign power market.

This March, the company bought Singapore's Tuas Power Ltd, which accounts for over 25 percent of the power manufacturing market share in Singapore.

As Huaneng chairman, Li made the last public appearance on May 24, when the company signed a 4.5 billion yuan order with Dongfang Electric, badly bruised by the quake. That was also the single largest order Dongfang got after the quake.

(China Daily June 4, 2008)