Analysis of the Development of Solar Thermal Power Generation in China in 2010 "I now have 2 billion yuan in cash on hand and 20 billion yuan in available funds in my account. I hope to invest in solar thermal power generation projects." In early 2010, a multinational company engaged in traditional energy development told China

A person from the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences, which is the leading institution in domestic solar thermal power generation research.

There are still a lot of huge funds eager to find similar investment channels. Faced with the increasing scarcity of traditional energy and the unshakable monopoly of central enterprises, new energy has naturally become one of the most ideal exports.

In recent times, following the investment boom in hydropower, wind power, nuclear power, and photovoltaic power generation, solar thermal power generation has gradually heated up and entered the vision of investors and strategic decision-makers.

On October 20, the 50-MW trough solar thermal power generation franchise demonstration project (hereinafter referred to as the 50-MW thermal power project) located in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, officially invited bids. This is the country's first commercial solar thermal power generation project and is expected to generate electricity in the first year.

The capacity is 120 million kilowatt hours.

The industry hopes to use this project to consider domestic R&D technologies, explore business models that are in line with national conditions, and drive large-scale market development.

The "Medium and Long-term Development Plan for Renewable Energy" promulgated in 2007 pointed out that during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, large-scale grid-connected solar photovoltaic power station demonstration projects will be constructed in Dunhuang, Gansu and Lhasa, Tibet, and solar thermal power plants will be built in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang and other places.

Power generation demonstration project.

By 2020, the total capacity of solar photovoltaic power stations nationwide will reach 2,000 MW, and the total solar thermal power generation capacity will also reach 2,000 MW.

But at present, the progress of photothermal power generation lags far behind that of photovoltaics.

"Compared with the price of photovoltaic electricity, the price of solar thermal electricity is still very high. The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration have always been concerned about the development of solar thermal power generation." An insider involved in the feasibility study of the Ordos project told reporters, "After all, renewable energy funds are limited, and decision-making

"The government still prefers low-cost renewable energy to develop first." According to the "Renewable Energy Special Fund Management Measures (Preliminary Draft)" formulated by the Ministry of Finance in April this year, the fund will mainly be used to subsidize power grid companies to accept renewable energy.

The source of financial expenses generated by electricity is additional revenue from renewable energy electricity prices and special funds from the Ministry of Finance.

Based on the current renewable energy surcharge of 4 cents per kilowatt-hour, the total amount of the fund is approximately 12 billion yuan per year.

Since CSP does not have the disadvantages of instability and discontinuity in new energy sources such as photovoltaic and wind power, many countries have positioned it as the basic load of electricity in their future energy planning.

According to the heat collection method, photothermal power generation can be divided into three types: trough type, tower type, and dish type. The trough type is the most commercially feasible.

Huang Xiang, chief scientist of the 973 (National Key Basic Research Program) solar thermal power generation project and vice chairman of the China Electrical Association, estimates that by 2020, China’s solar thermal power generation market will reach 22.5 trillion to 30 trillion yuan, and the total thermal power generation will

It can account for 30%-40% of the total annual power generation.

However, there are also pessimists.

Many companies engaged in manufacturing solar thermal power generation equipment said in interviews with reporters that although the thermal power market has good prospects, it is very difficult to scale up. At present, it is just a "house on a sand table."

Seven-year delay The Ordos 50-MW thermal power project was planned as early as 2003 and was originally scheduled to be tendered in the first quarter of 2010. However, the electricity price plan has been pending, resulting in repeated delays in the tendering time.

At the Sino-German Science and Technology Forum held in 2006, the project was officially identified as a Sino-German cooperation project.

In 2007, we received a letter of approval from the National Development and Reform Commission to carry out preliminary work.

Subsequently, the German Solar Millennium Company (hereinafter referred to as Solar Millennium) and Inner Mongolia Green Energy New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Green Energy) jointly established Inner Mongolia Stepp Solar Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Stepp), specializing in the feasibility study report and implementation of the project

Work.

Among them, Green Energy holds 75% of the shares and Sun Millennium holds 25%.

Xue Jigang, general manager of the green energy company, told reporters that at the beginning of the project, Sun Millennium planned to finance and operate the project by itself, but according to relevant Chinese regulations, the proportion of foreign investment in electricity cannot exceed 25%.

Therefore, Sun Millennium found Green Energy as a partner.

According to the project feasibility study report in October 2008, the total cost of the project is approximately 1.8 billion yuan, and the average annual total power generation is approximately 120 million kilowatt hours. Calculated based on a 25-year operation period, if we want to achieve 8% of the capital

The internal rate of return and the after-tax on-grid electricity price need to reach 2.26 yuan/kWh.

"Compared with foreign electricity prices, ours is still lower." Xue Jigang explained that even compared with the photovoltaic electricity price approved by the National Development and Reform Commission that year, CSP still has a great competitive advantage.

At that time, the electricity prices approved by the National Development and Reform Commission for the Shanghai Chongming Island Photovoltaic Project and the Ordos Concentrated Photovoltaic Project in Inner Mongolia were both above 4 yuan/kWh.

Unpredictably, just when Staples submitted the project to the National Development and Reform Commission with an on-grid electricity price of 2.26 yuan/kWh, the financial crisis occurred, the price of photovoltaic modules plummeted, and the country's first photovoltaic grid-connected power generation demonstration project - Dunhuang 10 MW solar energy project

The final winning bid price was only 1.09 yuan/kWh.

This sudden change directly led to the National Development and Reform Commission rejecting Shi Depu's plan.