PowerChina has completed grid connection and started electricity generation at a 1 GW hybrid solar PV and concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Gonghe county, Qinghai province, northwestern China.

The project reached full-capacity grid connection on Oct. 1, according to the Chinese engineering, construction, and infrastructure company. It combines a 900 MW solar PV plant with a 100 MW molten-salt tower CSP facility, integrating solar power generation, thermal energy storage and electric-to-thermal conversion. Chinese state media described it as the country’s first gigawatt-scale project to combine the three technologies.

The PV installation comprises approximately 1.9 million solar modules, with 900 MW of AC capacity and around 1.25 GW of installed DC capacity. The project is part of China’s second batch of large-scale wind and solar energy bases, primarily located in resource-rich northern and western regions.

The CSP facility features a 219-meter-high solar receiver tower surrounded by 10,310 pentagonal heliostats with a combined reflective area of approximately 500,000 m2. The mirrors track the sun and concentrate solar radiation onto a receiver at the top of the tower, heating molten salt that can be stored and later used to produce steam to drive a 100 MW turbine.

The CSP plant has eight hours of thermal storage capacity. It also features a 20 MW electric molten-salt heater that converts surplus electricity from the adjacent PV plant into heat for storage, potentially reducing solar power curtailment.

The system can store energy from both concentrated solar radiation and surplus PV generation, allowing the CSP plant to generate electricity during evening peak-demand periods or when solar irradiation is insufficient.

Source link