Cosin Solar wins 100 MW CSP project bid for Luneng Fukang

[Ed: Previously, Cosin Solar won the bid to supply the solar field of heliostats and the associated molten solar receiver system. With this week’s news, they have now won the bid for the entire 100 MW Luneng Fukang CSP project]

On June 17, 2024, Cosin Solar received the “Notification of Award” issued by Shandong Luneng Three Public Bidding Co., Ltd., confirming that Cosin Solar won the bid for the Molten Salt Thermal Storage & Exchange System equipment supply of the 100MW CSP part of the Luneng Fukang Hybrid Project (the Project).

Cosin Solar will provide the design and integrated supply of equipment for the molten salt thermal storage & exchange system for the 100MW CSP plant, as well as handle the on-site assembly of the molten salt tanks . Cosin Solar will also be responsible for the technical service within the scope of supply, including equipment installation supervision, single equipment commissioning, sub-system commissioning, and O&M supervision during the trial run period.

The molten salt thermal storage & exchange system is one of the key systems of a CSP plant, and its performance is vital for the safe and efficient operation. This system comprises key equipment such as molten salt storage tanks, pumps, molten salt heat exchangers, valves, instrumentation, electric heat tracing, and auxiliary systems such as preheating, anti-condensation, salt melting, and electric heating system. It is technically challenging to obtain the optimal system and equipment configuration of the molten salt thermal storage & exchange system to ensure its safe and stable operation and, at the same time, coordinate with the solar field, molten salt receiver, and power block for achieving efficient operation.

Over more than a decade of technological research and operational experience accumulation, Cosin Solar has developed a comprehensive processes package for the molten salt thermal storage & exchange system, including system process design, key equipment design and selection and control system design. Cosin Solar has also mastered construction quality control, commissioning, and operation technologies.

Through collaboration with leading domestic equipment suppliers, Cosin Solar has overcome numerous technical challenges such as molten salt tank structure design and welding quality control, steam generation system and equipment design for wide-range and rapid load regulation, wear-resistant design of molten salt pumps in high-temperature environments, integrated design of molten salt pumps, pipelines and platforms, sealing design of molten salt valves, and fatigue resistance of electric heat tracing under large temperature fluctuations. As a result, Cosin Solar has established a high-temperature molten salt thermal storage & exchange system engineering solution with completely independent intellectual property rights, obtaining 54 related patents.

Additionally, Cosin Solar led the preparation of two national standards for the molten salt thermal storage & exchange system in CSP: “Characteristics of Direct and Indirect Active Sensible Heat Storage Systems in Solar Thermal Power Plants” and “Technical Requirements for Molten Salt Thermal Storage & Exchange Systems in Solar Thermal Power Plants.”

Cosin Solar possesses full-process engineering capabilities and experience in system design, equipment integration, installation management, and technical supervision for commissioning, operation & maintenance. It has undergone training and verification through small-scale tests, pilot projects, and commercial projects. Cosin Solar’s independently developed molten salt thermal storage & exchange technology has been successfully applied in several CSP plants, such as SUPCON SOLAR Delingha 10MW Tower CSP Plant (with the molten salt system operational since August 2016, running for nearly eight years), SUPCON SOLAR Delingha 50MW Molten Salt Tower CSP Plant (synchronized to the grid on Dec. 30, 2018), and Jinta ZhongGuang Solar “CSP + PV” Hybrid Pilot Project 100MW CSP Project.

Among them, the SUPCON SOLAR Delingha 10MW Tower CSP Plant is China’s first the world’s third commercially operated Tower CSP. The SUPCON SOLAR Delingha 50MW Molten Salt Tower CSP Plant is the world’s first tower CSP plant that exceeds its production target and has been operating stably for five years. Meanwhile, the plant has passed the complete technical assessment of Fichtner, a German independent engineering consultancy company. Fichtner considers the plant has good advanced quality, and its design corresponds to state-of-the-art design of similar plants in the world,The main equipments is in good operating condition and has several design highlights,such as the molten salt thermal storage & exchange system is designed to minimize the number of molten salt pumps, which can still maintain high reliability and availability while reducing costs and power consumption,and the steam circulation system design enhances operational flexibility, etc.

The two core systems of a CSP plant are the solar field & MSR system (the solar collector system) and the molten salt thermal storage & exchange system. Previously, Cosin Solar successfully won the bid for the solar field and MSR system equipment of the 100MW CSP plant of the Luneng Fukang hybrid project. Now Cosin Solar has also won the bid for the molten salt thermal storage & exchange system of the same project, further demonstrating Cosin Solar’s comprehensive solid competitiveness in the tower CSP technology and earning the trust and recognition of the Clients. Cosin Solar will continue to deepen in tower CSP and molten salt energy storage fields, continuously enhancing its technical products and services to deliver more advanced, reliable, and cost-effective integrated CSP solutions to its clients.

The Project is located in Fukang City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, invested by China Green Development Investment Group Co., Ltd., with a total installed capacity of 1GW, including 900MW PV and 100MW tower CSP. Among them, the 100MW tower CSP, with an 8-hour molten salt storage system, adopted the molten salt tower CSP technology developed by Cosin Solar. It can support the power grid peak load regulation about 135 times yearly. The designed electricity output is 1675 GWh/year, saves 510,000 tons of standard coal, and reduces 1,310,000 tons CO₂ emission every year