Chinese engineering group Northwest Electric Power Design Institute (NWEPDI) is proposing to build a giant 7.4 GW CSP park in Akesai County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in north-west China, the CSP Plaza news service reported September 8.

NWEPDI is already constructing a 50 MW parabolic trough plant in Akesai as part of China’s first wave of state-sponsored CSP development.

China plans to build 1.3 GW of CSP capacity by 2018 in a first batch of 20 CSP projects which includes nine solar towers, seven parabolic trough plants and four Linear Fresnel plants.

NWEPDI has far more ambitious plans for Akesai. The developer has earmarked a 40-mile site where it plans to develop 2.1 GW of capacity by 2025, CSP Plaza reported, following a meeting of local stakeholders. NWEPDI plans to build a further 5.3 GW in a second development phase, the report said.

The CSP industry faces increasing competition from PV and wind projects in the coming years and China will play a key role in driving down CSP costs.

China’s first batch of projects must be completed by the end of 2018 to be eligible for the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) of 1.15 yuan/kWh ($170/MWh). Chinese deployment efficiencies will soon feed in to other markets, Xavier Lara, executive director at engineering organization Empresarios Agrupado, told New Energy Update in April.

“China’s demonstration projects represent roughly one-fourth of global installed CSP capacity and they plan to connect them to the grid by end of 2018. This will certainly lower prices,” Lara said.

Prices of CSP equipment in China, including steam turbines, generators and receivers are already falling faster than in western markets, said Lara, whose company is working with several CSP developers in China.

The creation of a domestic CSP industry will allow Chinese EPC contractors to export their expertise and this will further reduce costs, he said.

Shouhang, CNLNPC to jointly develop CSP projects

Beijing’s Shouhang IHW Resources Saving Technology and CNNP Liaoning Nuclear Power Co. (CNLNPC) have agreed to jointly develop 500 MW of CSP projects in China, CSP Plaza reported September 13.

The companies plan to invest 15 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) in projects located in northern and north-eastern China, the report said.

Under the agreement, Shouhang will supply technology and engineering procurement construction services. CNLNPC will focus on financing, development, engineering management, and operations.

New Energy Update

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