SEP 08

Last December, it was announced that China would be building a 1-GW solar PV plant, the largest in the world at time, but soon after, plans for a 1.3-GW solar project in California were revealed, taking the title away from China.  Well, it looks like China is back on top again, at least for now, with plans to build a 2-GW solar PV plant in the Mongolian Desert, the world's largest by far.

The Chinese government is partnering with U.S.-based First Solar to bring this project to life and the company is considering building a manufacturing facility in China to supply the panels for the large project.  The 16,000-acre plant would cost somewhere between $5 and $6 billion if built here, but should cost slightly less to build in China.  Construction will begin next year on the first phase, a 30 MW demo project.  Over the next decade, the other hundreds of megawatts will be added and the plant should power about three million Chinese homes.

The plant is part of an 11,950-MW renewable-energy park (yes, you read that right) planned for Ordos City, Inner Mongolia.  The park will feature wind, solar PV, solar thermal, biomass and hydro storage projects.

This project is another large leap that China is making to meet their goals of having 20 percent of their energy come from renewable sources by 2020 and to reach a cap on their CO2 emissions by 2030.

via NY Times

Comments (9)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Mongolia?
written by Jacob, September 09, 2009

China owns a piece of territory called Inner Mongolia, but that's not the same as the sovereign nation of Mongolia. Is the park an co-operative economic zone or is Mongolia going to sell the energy to China after China builds the plant?

• 
• +1
• 
• 

...
written by John Rowell, September 10, 2009

Sounds like a bit of friendly competition going on between two solar superpowers...which can only be a good thing

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by darius, September 10, 2009

You mean between China and Germany or Spain? I don't think you were talking about US?

This along with their plan for 100 Westinghouse reactors by 2020 and their push for Pebble bed reactors which they want to mass manufacture and they should be well secured in energy production on their way to being the next world super power.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...
written by Hazem, September 12, 2009

Nice to see such a competition between the world’s largest polluters, these projects and the adoption of clean energy production at the individual level, could save the world from the effects of global warming

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Put that solar power on crank
written by Carrie, September 14, 2009

Put that solar power on crank
The energy produced from that plant could be easily upped using half the materials and land if the solar plant would use the know concept of running a refrigeration cycle in reverse to generate power The solar panels could be used to heat water to 165°F.
That is the hottest the water temp is that runs the china hot springs geothermal plant. The water doesn’t get any hotter up their. The only real difference is it could be done with out having to drill a single hole. The most expensive part of geothermal. http://www.yourownpower.com/Power/#How it Works ... This link shows how the geo plant works. It could be modified to use a solar water heater instead of ground heated hot water, rembember alaskas only geothermal plant uses luke warm water at 165 degrees. No super steam needed. No holes needed.

• 
• +1
• 
• 

Solar power is not benign
written by Falmot, September 15, 2009

Solar power is getting a lot of press lately. One thing you haven't been told about is the innocent people who lose their lives in order to make your precious solar cells.

Every day, dozens of Chinese workers die in factory accidents. Sometimes from release of hydrofluoric acid gas, sometimes from being run over by forklift truck and sometimes from electrocution.

Solar cells also have a limited lifespan before the photon receptors wear out. The more current you draw. the faster they wear. Because you will have to replace the cells in only three years it turns out to be a very expensive way to make power. It costs money and people's lives.

We have the technology today to convert coal directly into electrical energy. There is no need for solar power generation.

• 
• -2
• 
• 

...
written by Rich Davine, September 17, 2009

Clean coal?! Ha! Thanks for the laugh.
Good to see big players trying to be green.
We need to use our energy more efficiently so that however it is
produced it is 100%, or close to, used for its intended purpose,
without waste.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Retired
written by Richard Fletcher, September 17, 2009

it is unfortunate that the Chinese, like the US, have not adopted a distributed solar plan with units on each household.that would avoid the line loss (up to 10%) so frequent with huge projects like this.

• 
• +1
• 
• 

...
written by Gavin Embry, September 24, 2009

Please contact me via Contact Us Page on: http://realdiv.tech.officelive.com/default.aspx to set up discussion of collaborating on production of electricity (and hydrogen)for support of Ideal Customers.

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment