Located in the photoelectric industry park of Qili Town, Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, the plant occupies an area of 120 hectares with a total investment of RMB 420 million. The tower located in the central part of the site is 138.3 meters in height, which is the highest one among the existing solar tower power plants in Asia. The tower is surrounded by 1,525 heliostats comprising of 53,375 mirrors. By using 5,800 tons of molten salt to absorb, store and transfer heat, the plant can operate at full load for 15 hours without sunlight. The electricity generated will be transmitted to Jiuquan City and Jiayuguan City via the 330-kV transformer substation in Mingshan, Dunhuang City.
Photo: The 10-MW molten-salt solar tower power plant in operation
The project is developed and designed by SunCan, the subsidiary of Shouhang Resources Saving which completed the entire project with local production, except that some high-temperature molten-salt pumps and valves were imported. Approximately 70% of components invested by Shouhang Resources Saving were designed and produced by the company itself. The project is the first commercial project on grid-connected power generation after China unveiled its feed-in tariff of 1.15yuan/kWh for the first group of 20 solar-thermal power plants, and it marks a new landmark in China’s solar-thermal power industry. Among the first batch of demonstrative projects, molten-salt tower projects account for the largest total installed capacity. The successful grid-connected power generation will also boost China’s confidence on the first batch of demonstrative solar-thermal power projects.
