Qinghai's "15th Five-Year Plan" strives to solve the pain points of new energy "summers are prosperous and winters are dry, and day and night losses"

China News Service, Xining, November 9th (Li Jun) A reporter learned from the Qinghai Provincial Energy Bureau on the 9th that the province issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Solar Thermal in Qinghai Province" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which clearly focuses on solar thermal + high-temperature heat storage to solve the pain points of new energy "summers are prosperous and winters are dry, and day and night losses", promote solar thermal from demonstration to large-scale, and strive to build "China's Solar and Thermal Capital".

The data picture shows the photovoltaic "ocean" in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. Photo by Zhao Linsong

Qinghai Province takes the lead in China to form a dual-main development pattern of new energy installed capacity and power generation capacity. The province's photothermal industry has outstanding advantages. The localization rate of photothermal intelligent mirror field control, multi-variable collaboration, extreme environment adaptation and other systems exceeds 95%. The mirror field accuracy, energy storage efficiency, and power generation stability have reached the international leading level. Build a full chain of "R&D + manufacturing + power station + operation and maintenance" to fill the gap in the manufacturing of solar thermal core components in western China.

The "Plan" clarifies that by 2030, the total installed capacity of CSP under construction and operation in Qinghai Province will reach 8 million kilowatts; the installed capacity in operation will exceed 5 million kilowatts, accounting for more than one-third of the country's total planned installed capacity; the cost of solar thermal power will be basically equivalent to that of coal power; and a full industry chain ecosystem integrating resource development, equipment manufacturing, technology research and development, and scenario application will be formed.

In view of Qinghai's strong demand for new energy during the day and insufficient power output during the evening peak hours, the province relies on photothermal high-temperature heat storage to store the abundant solar energy during the day and steadily release it during the evening peak hours. It assumes system functions such as peak power supply, frequency regulation, and backup, and gradually replaces the traditional thermal power regulation role.

Qinghai Province will build new independent solar thermal power stations, giving priority to optimizing the allocation of heat storage time around evening peak power supply, and improving flexible adjustment margins; encouraging the configuration or reservation of molten salt electric heating systems, using off-peak power for charging, achieving two-way coupling of electricity and heat, and further improving the consumption of new energy; promote The power station in operation has been upgraded through technical transformation and installation, and AGC/AVC systems have been installed to coordinate with heat storage collaborative control to improve dispatch response speed and peak load regulation depth. In the wind, solar and thermal storage joint base, long-term solar and thermal heat storage is used to stabilize wind and solar fluctuations and support the implementation of 100% new energy delivery pilot projects.

The "Plan" also plans to open up the province's salt lake resources - molten salt preparation - high-temperature heat storage application vertical industrial chain, rely on the Golmud Salt Lake's lithium, potassium and sodium resource advantages to build a large-scale molten salt production base, extend to new high-temperature molten salt materials above 600°C, and create a national core photothermal molten salt material supply base.