Jhtin Solar shares with you the conditions for large-scale development of CSP

On September 22-23, at the time of the 2017 Second China Delingha Solar Thermal Conference to be held in Delingha, Qinghai Province, the reporter focused on "the prospects, development bottlenecks and solutions of China's solar CSP industry" The progress of the first 20 CSP demonstration projects "and other questions were interviewed with Sun Rui, deputy director of the Central Power Planning and Design Institute. The following is the specific interview content:

Sun Rui, Vice President, General Electric Power Planning and Design Institute

CSP will play an important role in China's energy transition

Reporter: At present, what is the development status of CSP in China? What is the market space?

Sun Rui: Relevant scientific research institutions and universities in China have studied CSP technology for more than 10 years from theory to experiment. They have mastered its technical characteristics and laid the foundation for engineering applications. There have been many CSP projects. Proprietary technology companies have developed proprietary technologies and products with independent intellectual property rights, and have built a number of CSP test devices and test projects. Among them, Zhejiang Zhongkong Qinghai Delingha 10MW Tower CSP Plant has been put into operation since June 2013, and has accumulated rich operating experience. In addition, there are dozens of projects in the pre-project stage. In September 2016, the first batch of demonstration projects has been approved by the National Energy Administration. The total installed capacity of 20 units is 1.349 million kilowatts, and some projects have begun construction.

"Development and Consumption Revolution Strategy (2016-2030)" (Development and Reform Foundation [2016] No. 2795) issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Energy Bureau, proposed the implementation of non-fossil energy leapfrog development actions, and by 2030, non-fossil energy power generation It accounts for 50% of total power generation compared to gravity contention. How to achieve this goal, the specific plan is still in the process of research and formulation. According to some relevant information, it is roughly estimated that the installed capacity of solar power may reach 500 million kilowatts in 2030, and the installed capacity of solar thermal power will occupy a considerable proportion.

According to statistics from the Wind Energy Solar Resource Center of the China Meteorological Administration, China has about 940,000 km2 of available land with direct solar radiation DNI> 1700kWh / m2, which are basically Gobi and desert. If 100,000 square kilometers of land are used to build CSP plants, the annual power generation can reach 5.400 billion kWh. If calculated based on the number of hours of power generation used, the total installed capacity is about 1.35 billion kilowatts.

Reporter: What role can CSP play in the power system?

Sun Rui: By configuring a thermal storage system, CSP units can maintain stable power output without being affected by changes in light intensity. If the capacity of the thermal storage system is large enough, the unit can achieve continuous power generation for 24 hours; meanwhile, CSP The unit has shorter start-up time and lower operating load than coal-fired units, and has lower peak load performance. It can quickly adjust the output of the turbo-generator set according to the needs of the power load of the power grid, that is, participate in the system's primary frequency adjustment. And secondary frequency modulation. Therefore, CSP units can assume the basic load in the power system as the main unit and peak load as the peak shaving unit. In winter, they can also use abandoned wind power storage to generate electricity.

CSP is not only renewable power generation, but also because of its regulation, it can improve the power system's ability to accept wind power and photovoltaic power generation. This is because CSPs replaced coal-fired units in the power system and reduced the small technical output of the operating units in the grid. Therefore, its contribution to increasing the proportion of renewable energy power generation was 1.5 times the installed capacity of CSPs. In addition, it must be emphasized here that if CSP is used as a peak shaving unit, the principle of not sacrificing the economics of CSP units is the principle.

Reporter: What is the future positioning of CSP in China's energy system? Is it possible to become the dominant energy source?

Sun Rui: Solar energy is inexhaustible and inexhaustible. CSP mode can provide continuous and reliable power and has good regulation performance. CSP not only can replace fossil energy power generation itself, it can also play the role of peak shaving power stations and energy storage power stations, improving the power system's ability to accept wind power and photovoltaic power generation. However, because China ’s direct solar radiation resources and available land resources are distributed in the western region of China, and the power consumption space in the western region is limited, after the development of CSP to a certain scale, it is necessary to rely on long-distance transmission lines to transmit power to the East area.

Therefore, as one of the renewable energy power generation methods, CSP will co-develop with a variety of renewable energy power generation methods such as hydropower, wind power, photovoltaics, and biomass power generation, and play a role in China's energy transition.

The first 20 CSP demonstration projects encountered four "stopper"

Reporter: The deadline for the completion of the first batch of 20 CSP demonstration projects at the end of 2018 is only one and a half years, but the project progress is not optimistic. What are the main obstacles? How to solve them? Which projects are expected to be completed before December 31, 2018 Completed and put into operation?

Sun Rui: The progress of the previous batch of demonstration projects did not meet expectations. The reasons are various. There are common problems and individual problems. In summary, there are several reasons:

First of all, the on-grid electricity price of the earlier batch of CSP demonstration projects approved by the National Development and Reform Commission was 1.15 yuan / kWh, which did not meet the investment return expectation (internal capital internal rate of return of 10%) when most projects were declared. Therefore, the approval document emphasized: "Encourage local relevant departments to adopt tax and fee reductions, financial subsidies, green credit, land concessions and other measures on solar thermal power generation enterprises, and make mistakes to promote the development of solar thermal power generation." However, from the implementation of the previous batch of projects, the support measures highlighted in the article have not been implemented. As a result, some projects have hindered investment decisions due to low investment returns, and some projects are likely to abandon construction.

Second, project financing is difficult. Banks have limited understanding of CSP, and worry that CSP will also suffer from severe abandonment of light like photovoltaic power generation projects, affecting repayment of loans. In addition, banks have stricter loan conditions for private enterprise investment projects, and guarantees and mortgages are difficult to meet. Therefore, some projects invested by private enterprises have to seek state-owned enterprises as investment partners to solve financing problems, which also delays the project progress.

Third, due to inadequate preparation of the reporting unit at the time of the demonstration project declaration, the site conditions for plant construction were not fully implemented. Later, the plant site had to be changed, which delayed the project progress. Other projects have not thoroughly researched the way of collecting light and collecting heat, and later they have to change it, which has also delayed the progress of the project. In some projects, complaints in the bidding process have also greatly affected the progress of the project.

Fourth, the construction period of general CSP projects takes 24 months, but construction and installation cannot be carried out in winter in northern China. Therefore, it takes about 3 years to add two winter months to the 24-month period. Based on this, most projects cannot be completed by the end of 2018. From the announcement of the demonstration project in September 2016, it is a more reasonable construction cycle to September 2019.