China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) started building a 50-megawatt concentrated solar power (CSP) plant on April 6 in Wumatang Township in Lhasa, the capital of Xizang Autonomous Region. The facility, located at an elevation of 4,550 meters, will be the world’s highest parabolic trough CSP plant.
The CSP plant is to be equipped with the parabolic trough collectors with an 8.6-meter aperture, marking the first commercial application of this independently developed equipment.
The plant is also equipped with a molten salt thermal energy storage system with six hours of capacity, enabling continuous power generation at night and flexible peak regulation, and providing steady, clean electricity for Xizang’s grid.
China General Nuclear Power Corporation starts the construction of its 50-megawatt concentrated solar power plant on April 6 in Wumatang Township in Lhasa, the capital of Xizang Autonomous Region. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The plant´s solar field covers 242,000 square meters and has 68 collector loops, eight of which will be equipped with the aforementioned 8.6-meter-aperture parabolic trough collectors and the others with 5.77-meter collectors.
“The 8.6-meter-aperture parabolic trough collector is currently the largest of its kind in commercial application worldwide,” said an official of CGN New Energy Holdings Co., Ltd., a CGN subsidiary.
These collectors perform better than 5.77-meter ones and have an 18 percent higher concentration ratio and 17.5 percent higher energy flux density, cutting the levelized cost of electricity by 10 percent.
The commercialization of this technology will improve China’s industrial chain related to parabolic trough CSP generation, marking a major leap from technology introduction to indigenous innovation in China’s core equipment for solar thermal power generation.
The blueprint of the Wumatang 50-megawatt concentrated solar power plant. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Extreme natural conditions on the plateau – such as a low annual average temperature, large temperature differences between day and night, low air density and strong ultraviolet radiation -- complicate the construction. The operable time window for construction is limited to April to October. Above the 4,000-meter elevation, even a 100-meter increase can make construction much more difficult, thus impairing work efficiency.
The construction team has prioritized the physical and mental health of constructors. They have set up the heat and oxygen supply installations and established hyperbaric oxygen chambers to ensure their health and construction progress.
(Executive editor: Zuo Shihan)
