In recent years, China and Saudi Arabia have deepened cooperation in various fields.
China has supported a series of Saudi's major development initiatives such as Vision 2030 and the Green Middle East Initiative, actively participated in the country's industrialization and supported its diversified economy.
Under the framework of Vision 2030, a new green city is being built on the coast of the Red Sea.
Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA) has played a supportive role in the public infrastructure project.
Man-made wetland helps sewage treatment
"The man-made wetland shoulders the role of a sewage treatment plant," said Mo Bing, a project manager of SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of POWERCHINA.
Domestic sewage in the Red Sea New Town is filtered of large particle impurities when it is released to the first reed bush after pretreatment. When the sewage passes through the second reed bush, materials like heavy metals are absorbed. The sewage then runs through the sedge area and finally flows into the impounding reservoir after a final filtering.
A bird's-eye view of the Red Sea bordering the New Town project [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Located in West Saudi’s Tabuk Province, the Red Sea New Town project, dubbed a "new generation of city", covers 28,000 square kilometers and is a key project of the country's Vision 2030.
The project is scheduled to be completed in 2030 and will be able to receive one million tourists annually from home and abroad.
One of the highlights of the new city is that the power supply will be 100 percent based on clean energy, making it the world's first large-scale commercial public infrastructure project that integrates a multi-energy complementary system as well as the largest off-grid energy storage project.
Drinking water of the Red Sea New Town will come from desalinated seawater. Some of the desalinated water will also support the city's water-cooled air conditioning.
The desalinated seawater will be cooled to about four degrees Celsius in a centralized cooling plant and then pumped into buildings in the city to regulate the indoor temperature.
The centralized cooling station is powered by a supporting photovoltaic power plant. Power not used during the day will be stored in 40,000-cubic-meter cold storage tanks in the cooling station, which will realize continuous cooling at night without consumption of additional energy and truly achieve green energy conservation and environmental protection.
Once the first phase of the man-made wetland project is put into use, the project is expected to treat 6,000 cu m of sewage daily. The water will also support irrigation of a seedling base neighboring the project, Mo added.
PV plus energy storage provides green power for the city
At the supporting photovoltaic (PV) power station, automatic cleaning robots can be seen moving between rows of PV panels, cleaning dust from them.
Mo explained that using PV power generation in desert areas can make full use of the sufficient solar power but sand and dust could affect the photoelectric conversion efficiency. Therefore, the automatic cleaning robots are a must in the PV power station.
On the other side of the PV power plant lie rows of white containers. They are the energy storage boxes provided by Huawei Digital Energy Technology Co. Ltd., which are expected to be able to store 1,300 megawatt-hours of power.
Neighboring the energy storage container site stands an internal combustion engine power station. It will be of emergency use in the event of poor weather or high-power consumption and power shortages at night.
According to Mo, there are 25 biomass-fueled internal combustion engines in the project which are distributed in six different working areas to provide a backup energy source.
The Red Sea New Town project is designed with 22 tourist islands, each of which will be equipped with luxury hotels and resorts.
A cable transmission network with a total of more than 10,000 kilometers of lines will provide stable and reliable power to the islands and all areas of the Red Sea New Town.
A bird's-eye view of an island of the Red Sea New Town project that is under construction [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
