Da Mei Qinghai client information along the 315 national road out of Delingha City, more than 10 kilometers westward, Qaidam vast sea Gobi, a very shocking artificial facilities - a 200 meter high tower.

On a sunny day, the top of the tower will emit dazzling white light, making people feel like they are in the world of science fiction. Even a few kilometers away, the light is very conspicuous. Looking down from the sky, the tower is surrounded by tens of thousands of mirrors, which are arranged in a big disk like a "super mirror".

This is the first commercial tower solar thermal energy storage power station in China and the third in the world, which was built and put into use by Qinghai zhongkong Solar Power Generation Co., Ltd.

Cao Dehong, deputy director of the comprehensive office of Qinghai zhongkong Solar Power Generation Co., Ltd., said: "these 'mirrors' on the ground are called heliostats. Through the heliostats, the sunlight is gathered to the receiver at the top of the heat absorbing tower to generate high temperature, and then the molten salt is heated by high temperature to generate steam, which drives the steam turbine generator unit to generate electricity."

"At present, a 50 MW and two 5 MW tower solar thermal energy storage power stations have been built. The 50 MW power station is equipped with 27135 mirrors of 20 square meters, and the two 5 MW power stations are equipped with 22497 mirrors of 2 square meters. The principle of tower solar photothermal power generation is to reflect the solar radiation to the heat receiver placed on the high tower through several heliostats tracking the movement of the sun, heat the conduction medium, and then generate steam, and use the steam turbine generator set to generate electricity. " Cao Dehong said.

Cao Dehong added that compared with solar photovoltaic power generation, solar photothermal avoids the silicon crystal photoelectric conversion process, saves energy consumption, reduces power generation costs, and truly achieves zero emissions. The two 5 MW power stations were connected to the grid on July 5, 2013, and the 50 MW power station was connected to the grid on December 30, 2018. The 50 MW photo thermal power station can realize 24-hour continuous power generation, which can meet the annual power consumption of 80000 local households.

Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has continuously innovated its development concept, promoted the diversified development of photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation, equipment manufacturing, new energy materials and photovoltaic research, and introduced 12 measures to promote the supply side structural reform and promote the development of the real economy, the introduction of high-end innovative talents, three measures to reduce taxes, certificates and standards, and other measures There are ten measures to harness the soft environment of economic development in Haixi Prefecture, the implementation measures to support the development of new energy industry in Haixi Prefecture, and several policies to support the construction of advanced technology photovoltaic power generation demonstration base in Haixi Prefecture, which provide strong policy support for investment promotion, project construction and enterprise development.