Ingeteam wins engineering contract for solar thermal plant in China

Ingeteam has been awarded a further contract for the first commercial-scale solar thermal plant to be built in China. The company had already been awarded an initial contract for the basic engineering for this plant and has now won a further contract for the detailed engineering of the solar farm.

This is the first commercial-scale solar thermal plant in China, developed by CGN Delingha Solar Energy Co Ltd. The plant covers a total surface area of 250 hectares and is expected to start operating at the end of 2017. With a power output of 50MW, the plant stands out for its 7.5 hour, 1,300 MWt thermal energy storage capacity based on a molten salt tank system. The plant will operate for more than 5,000 hours, representing a generation of more than 210 GWh per annum and preventing the annual emission of 200,000 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

With this new contract, Ingeteam is to develop the detailed engineering for the solar farm, including the process design, mechanics, electrics, instrumentation and control of the solar farm for the Beijing Shouhang IHW Resources Saving Technology Company. Ltd. The plant is located in the province of Qinghai, whose capital city is Xining, in the centre of China at a distance of 1,700 km from Peking. Due to the fact that the province is situated on a high plateau at an altitude of some 3,000 metres, surrounded by mountains, the climate is extreme, with little rainfall, extremely cold winters that can reach -27.9 ºC at the site, and very hot summers.

To date, China has built some small pilot solar thermal plants, directed at developing R&D, but has not commissioned any commercial plants. Ingeteam is therefore present in an expanding market, which has an extensive list of approved projects, forecasting a total power output of 1.35 GW.

Photo courtesy of INGETEAM