China Races to Finish Molten-Salt Solar Plant as Stocks Whipsaw
Backs X-Energy Reactor With Up to $2.15 Billion Haley Zaremba is an energy journalist and researcher with more than a decade of professional experience covering global energy systems, land and natural resources, and… China has driven the world’s solar energy deployment, adding capacity atsuch a blistering ratethat the nation’s existing and planned wind and solar generation nearly doubles the rest of the world put together.
However, China’s deployment of supportive infrastructure for all that new solar has not kept pace, leading to curtailment during peak hours and increased quantities of wasted clean energy.
But Beijing is working hard to fix that problem, and a brand new, state-of-the-art thermal solar farm may provide a critical solution.
A massive molten-salt thermal solar plant just got one big step closer to completion in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region.
The 100-megawatt (MW), 8.6 million square-foot facility just reached a milestone,installing 15,927 heliostats across a solar field.
Heliostats are mirrors that are able to track and follow the movement of the sun, adapting to catch its rays and beam them back to a central tower, which in turn heats molten salt.
This thermal energy can then be converted into electricity as needed.
Critically, molten salt is able to hold onto excess energy for far longer than traditional lithium-ion batteries, offering a much-needed energy storage solution and allowing solar energy plants to continue to produce long after the sun has set.
In this way, molten-salt thermal solar is better able to respond and adapt to demand curves and avoid wasting energy at peak production times.
SetOilPrice.comas a preferred source in Googlehere.
The environment where the solar field is being installed is a tricky one, as Amdo County, Nagqu, is at high elevation and experiences extremely harsh weather patterns, including severe cold temperatures and high winds.
But the region also receives more than 2,800 hours of sunshine each year, making it an attractive option for this kind of solar megaproject.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
Comments
Post a Comment