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China's largest solar power tower project linked to power grid

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      China

      China

      China's largest solar power tower project linked to power grid

      2024-12-01 17:26 Last Updated At:22:47

      The Aksai Huidong New Energy solar farm, China's largest solar power tower project, was connected to the power grid at full capacity on Saturday.

      Located in Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in northwest China's Gansu Province, this cutting-edge project sets itself apart by employing Chinese-initiated pentagonal heliostats, each weighing up to 1.2 tons and covering 48 square meters, to receive focused sunlight through the tower.

      Altogether, the project boasts a substantial 750 MW installed gross capacity, including 110 MW of solar thermal power and 640 MW of photovoltaic power, with the latter connected to the grid in mid-August.

      To reduce power plant costs and address issues such as fluctuations and intermittent blackouts, the project introduced a solution called intelligent coupling -- the integration of various smart technologies to enhance efficiency and monitoring.

      "During the day, while the photovoltaic panels continue to generate electricity, the heliostats installed at the solar thermal area collects sunlight and send it to the surface of the heat absorber on the top of the tower to heat the fused slat for storage of the thermal energy. The energy will be released at night to generate steam, which can drive the generator sets to generate electricity. The mode makes it possible to generate electricity for eight hours stably at night, coping with the fluctuations and intermittency of a single photovoltaic power plant and significantly improving the economy of the power station," said Fang Jun, manager of the project.

      The solar farm is expected to generate 1.7 billion kWh of power annually.

      China's largest solar power tower project linked to power grid

      China's largest solar power tower project linked to power grid

      Reconstruction plans are already underway to restore damaged Buddhist monasteries from a devastating earthquake earlier this month in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region as part of post-quake relief efforts.

      The 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Dingri County on January 7, leaving 126 people dead, including two nuns, and 337 others injured. In total, six temples in the region suffered significant damage from the powerful earthquake.

      A rite for the deceased took place in a makeshift sutra hall in Dingri County. For the mourning villagers, the monks with the Sengar Chode Monastery offer some consolation.

      A short walk away is the monastery, now in ruins from the earthquake. Abbot Thubten recalls that fateful morning on January 7, when all the buildings collapsed except for the main hall, and that's where all 22 monks of the monastery happened to be.

      "It's so fortunate we were in here for morning prayers. If we had been in the dormitory, we would have all been doomed," he said.

      However, a more than 600-year-old nunnery was hit hard. Once Tserin Wangdui, party secretary of the Dingri County Sengar Chode Monastery management committee, spotted the damage from his office, he and a group of people rushed up the steep hill to the Dzongbu Temple. They were able to retrieve six nuns from the rubble, four of whom survived.

      At the Sengar Chode Monastery, three thick walls, which embody 600-year-old murals, standing in the main hall have been assessed by experts to be important cultural relics that must be preserved. It will require special technicians to dismantle then rebuild the temple, all while leaving these ancient paintings intact.

      Built in 1541, this Gelug monastery serves some 4,000 Buddhist believers in the region.

      Standing amid the ruins, the abbot reflects on what transpired.

      "Through this disaster, we should all realize that those who are alive must be even more united in the future," said Thubten.

      Having gone through this ordeal together, the monastery's relationship with its government regulator is also said to have shifted.

      "In the past, they sometimes thought we were here just to supervise them and had some opinions about it. But after we helped them with disaster relief this time, their perception of us has changed, and our perception of them has also shifted," said Tserin Wangdui.

      Rebuilding an ancient monastery is, in many ways, even harder than constructing one from scratch. But it will be done because preserving culture and history matters. For the religious people in Xizang, seeing their treasured monasteries restored will be one more step towards healing.

      Efforts underway to restore quake-damaged Buddhist temples in southwest China's Xizang

      Efforts underway to restore quake-damaged Buddhist temples in southwest China's Xizang

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