On November 29, 2024, the Aksay Huidong solar thermal + photovoltaic project located in Aksay Kazakh Autonomous County, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province, achieved full capacity grid connection, marking the official commissioning of the largest tower solar thermal project among the country's first batch of "sand, Gobi, and desert" projects.
The project has a total installed capacity of 750MW. As one of the first batch of large wind and photovoltaic base projects approved by the state in desert, Gobi, and desert regions in Gansu Province, its commissioning will serve as a demonstration for the development of the solar thermal industry and generate good social and ecological benefits locally.
The project covers an area of about 16.5 square kilometers, with 110MW of CSP, equipped with 11,960 pentagonal monitor-style heliostats, and the construction of a heat absorption tower about 200 meters high. Each heliostat can track the sun by rotating and reflect the solar radiation incident on its surface to the receiver at the top of the heat absorption tower. Solar energy is converted into thermal energy, which is then transferred to molten salt medium. The heated high-temperature molten salt is transported to an insulated storage tank, and at night, the high-temperature molten salt is transported to a heat exchanger to transfer thermal energy to water, producing superheated steam to drive the turbine generator.
The project also includes the construction of 640MW of photovoltaic power generation, forming an "solar thermal + photovoltaic" intelligent coupled power generation model. During the day, the photovoltaic power generation system supplies electricity; at night, when photovoltaic power generation is intermittent, the molten salt in the storage tank continues to generate electricity, achieving 24-hour green electricity supply.
The project is contracted by East China Electric Power Design Institute CO., LTD, of China Power Engineering Consulting Group with the CSTA director unit - China Energy Engineering Group Central China Electric Power Test and Research Institute Co., Ltd. responsible for subsystem and overall start-up commissioning, and Dongfang Boiler Co., Ltd. providing the design and equipment package for the concentrating heat collection system.
