July 9 — In a video feature titled “A New Era for Storage: Sunflowers in the Gobi,” Xinhua News Agency highlighted the major achievements of concentrated solar power (CSP) in the new-energy era and the strategic importance of its large-scale development.
Gui Xiaoyang, Deputy Director of the New and Renewable Energy Department at the National Energy Administration, told Xinhua that “in a new-type power system, CSP will play an irreplaceable role. Although China started relatively late, policy guidance has enabled a leap from zero to one.” Beginning with the 12th Five-Year Plan, the state began promoting CSP projects. In 2016 the NEA issued the Notice on the Construction of Solar Thermal Power Demonstration Projects, launching 20 demonstration plants with competitive feed-in tariffs that were instrumental in engineering deployment. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, additional documents—such as the Notice on Improving CSP Pricing Policy and the Notice on Promoting Scaled Development of CSP—were released. The state now encourages a certain share of CSP in large wind-solar bases, driving technological breakthroughs and orderly expansion. Guided by national energy strategy, the Chinese CSP industry will pursue higher efficiency, lower costs and broader applications. As costs fall and market mechanisms mature, CSP is poised for a new round of scaled growth, especially in desert, Gobi and wasteland renewable-energy bases, where it will become a key component.
He Wei, Deputy Director of the Qinghai Provincial Energy Administration, noted that Qinghai has taken the national lead by granting standalone CSP plants a tariff of 0.55 yuan/kWh. “To seize the CSP opportunity and strengthen Qinghai’s power-system regulation capacity, we will scale up CSP relentlessly.” Measures include: (1) policy safeguards that fully reflect CSP’s value in grid regulation and support; (2) factor guarantees to ensure high-quality, efficient project construction; and (3) seizing the development window to drive down integrated project costs.
Liu Qingbiao, Senior Engineer and Director of the Dispatching Center of State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Company, described CSP from the perspective of grid dispatch: “It is a three-in-one generation technology. It combines renewable generation with conventional thermal technology and integrates heat storage, effectively serving three roles at once.”
Liu Yafang, Adjunct Professor at Zhejiang University, emphasized that “CSP is an excellent long-duration storage technology. It is green, low-carbon and extremely grid-friendly. From a pure-storage standpoint, the long-term cost of any single existing technology route to deliver the scale required by power systems will likely exceed that of CSP-coupled storage.”
Jin Jianxiang, Chairman and Chief Scientist of Cosin Solar Technology Co., Ltd., explained that CSP uses synchronous generators, benefiting grid frequency and voltage stability, facilitating high-voltage transmission of additional wind and solar power, and easing morning and evening peak demand through long-duration storage. “CSP plants are very friendly to the grid. The future new-type power system needs technology paths like CSP. CSP will be in great demand for achieving carbon neutrality.”
