A 1-GIGAWATT SOLAR-AND-STORAGE PROJECT JOINED THE GRID.
Panels make power now. Molten salt is designed to hold heat for later.
A 1-gigawatt hybrid solar project in Qinghai Province has connected to the grid, combining a very large photovoltaic field with molten-salt concentrated solar power.
WHAT HAPPENED
The Gonghe project pairs 900 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity with a 100-megawatt tower unit. The solar-thermal portion uses 10,310 heliostats to focus sunlight onto a receiver, where molten salt stores heat for later electricity generation. The grid connection completes what the report describes as China’s first three-tower solar-thermal base.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
The useful idea is the pairing: make lots of cheap power when the sun is high, then keep some of that solar energy as heat. Nameplate capacity is not the same as proven performance, but putting both technologies together at this scale gives the grid a serious new test bed.
ORIGINAL SOURCEPandaily / POWERCHINARead the original report
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