China's First Three-Tower CSP Base Connected to Grid, CSP Industry Development Accelerates onto the Fast Track

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 2, China's first million-kilowatt-level clean energy project integrating photovoltaic power generation, concentrated solar power (CSP) energy storage, and electrothermal conversion—the Qinghai Gonghe Million-Kilowatt PV-CSP Project—was successfully connected to the grid yesterday (October 1). Currently, new energy bases in China's desert, Gobi, and barren areas are being constructed on a large scale, and the large-scale development of the CSP industry is accelerating onto the fast track.

The Qinghai Gonghe Million-Kilowatt PV-CSP Project is located in Gonghe County, Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai Province, with a total installed capacity of 1 million kilowatts, consisting of a 900,000-kilowatt photovoltaic power station and a 100,000-kilowatt molten salt tower CSP station. The CSP mirror field is equipped with 10,310 heliostats, with a total light-collecting area of approximately 500,000 square meters. Tens of thousands of mirrors coordinately track the sun, concentrating solar radiation onto the receiver atop the solar tower, heating molten salt, and then using the stored heat to generate steam to drive a steam turbine generator for power generation.

Song Qipeng, head of the PowerChina Northwest Engineering Corporation Limited Gonghe CSP Project: After the project is put into operation, the average annual on-grid electricity is expected to reach 2.2 billion kWh, saving approximately 690,000 tons of standard coal per year and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2.07 million tons.

Not only in Qinghai, but also in Tibet, two ultra-high-altitude CSP projects are under vigorous construction. The Tibet Kaitou Anduo Tushuo 100,000-kilowatt CSP project, which started construction last year, has a site altitude of 4,650 meters, making it the world's highest-altitude tower CSP station; the CGN Dangxiong Wumatang "CSP + PV" integrated project, which started construction in April this year, has a site altitude of 4,550 meters, making it the world's highest-altitude trough CSP station, equipped with 50,000 kilowatts of CSP and 400,000 kilowatts of PV. Once completed, it will reinforce the stable power supply for the northern Tibet power grid.

Yang Kun, Executive Vice Chairman of the China Electricity Council: As of the end of August 2026, China has built 2.2 million kilowatts of CSP installed capacity, with another 3.1 million kilowatts currently under construction, ranking first in the world in terms of CSP installed capacity under construction and in operation.