Recently, a giant heat absorption tower in the depths of Golmud Gobi Desert in Qinghai Province has completed its topping out. The absorption tower of the 350 MW tower type solar thermal power generation project in Golmud, constructed by Shandong Electric Power Construction Company, has successfully topped out, marking a key milestone for the world's largest single solar thermal power station. From the plateau Gobi to the new energy system, China's solar thermal power generation is filling the key puzzle of stable power supply from new energy with long-term energy storage capacity.

Peak breaking in the high-altitude Gobi Desert campaign

Golmud is located on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, where high temperatures, strong winds, and lack of oxygen create numerous obstacles for the construction of super tall towers. In high-altitude high wind and low temperature environments, large volume concrete is prone to temperature cracks, and the risk of high-altitude operations is much higher than that of plain engineering. The project team carried out special technical research and development on high-altitude concrete tower bodies, from the demonstration of special construction plans, technical disclosure to the guidance of the first sample, and on-site monitoring throughout the entire process. From coordinating personnel and equipment concrete supply to supporting oxygen and cold resistant materials, improving high-altitude fall protection systems, and building a solid safety and quality defense line layer by layer. Reinforcement binding, formwork support, and continuous pouring of concrete are finely controlled in each process, and settlement and deformation monitoring are continuously carried out simultaneously. Ultimately, the three core challenges of construction under strong wind conditions, temperature control of large volume concrete, and high-altitude operations are overcome, and the sealing of the heat absorption tower is successfully achieved.

Multiple indicators break records

The project has an installed capacity of 350MW, making it the world's largest single solar thermal power station. It adopts a unique three tower one unit technology solution. The total reflection area of the mirror field is about 3.3 million square meters, and the control system controls 89000 heliostats, making the mirror field the largest in the world in terms of volume. The total design capacity of molten salt is about 107000 tons, with a heat storage capacity of 10.6GWh and an energy storage time of up to 14 hours. 14 hour long-term molten salt energy storage means that during the day, sunlight from the Gobi Desert converges through hundreds of thousands of square meters of mirrors to the top of the tower, heating the molten salt and storing the energy. Even on cloudy nights, the power station can continue to generate stable electricity. Compared to lithium battery energy storage, which typically involves short-term peak shaving for 2 to 4 hours, the 14 hour day night energy storage truly achieves solar energy storage and supply throughout the day. This project has set a new record for the storage scale of tower solar thermal projects worldwide, marking that China has entered the world's top tier in the design, equipment integration, and construction of large-scale molten salt solar thermal projects. Keywords: New energy news and information, solar thermal, solar thermal power generation

Embedded in Qinghai's clean energy highland

Qinghai is the main battlefield of clean energy in China, with abundant wind and solar resources, but it also faces practical challenges of new energy consumption and grid peak regulation. After the Golmud solar thermal power station is put into operation, it will use long-term energy storage to shift the power generation output, reduce wasted light, convert Gobi solar energy into stable and dispatchable electricity, and alleviate the pressure of power grid load fluctuations. At the same time, we will increase dispatchable renewable power sources beyond wind and photovoltaic power, build a diversified energy base of wind, solar and energy storage, and consolidate the foundation of Qinghai's national clean energy industry highland. In the new energy system, photovoltaic wind power is responsible for the basic power generation, lithium batteries are suitable for short-term peak shaving, and long-term energy storage is the cornerstone of future high proportion new energy grids. The Golmud project is a full process practical verification of domestic ultra large capacity tower solar thermal engineering, which will explore feasible paths for the large-scale and commercial promotion of solar thermal.Editor/Gao Xue