China's largest tidal flat photovoltaic storage power station, based in Laizhou City of east China's Shandong Province, went into operation on Tuesday, marking one of the country's latest efforts to promote green energy transition.
According to its operator Huadian Laizhou Power Generation, nearly two million solar panels have been installed across 1,200 hectares of tidal flats under the Huadian Laizhou large-scale saline-alkali tidal flat photovoltaic storage integrated project.
The project is one of China's third batch of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic bases, with an installed capacity of 1,000 megawatts.
In addition to green power generation, the station will become capable of operating salt production too. As it is planned that brine will be filled into containers below the panels to produce salt.
"After the project is put into operation, it can generate 1.442 billion kWh of electricity per year, which can meet the annual electricity consumption demand of about 500,000 households. It can save 444,000 tons of standard coal per year," said Wang Gang, deputy chief engineer of Huadian Laizhou Power Generation.
Tidal flat photovoltaic energy storage power stations are usually built on sandy or silty belts on the coast of oceans and rivers with good sunshine conditions.
Take the natural conditions for the Huadian Laizhou saline-alkali tidal flat photovoltaic storage integrated project as an example. The annual average sunshine time here is more than 2,600 hours, with the average daily sunshine time standing at more than 7 hours per day, which can convert abundant solar energy resources into electricity.
In addition, due to the intermittent and unstable nature of photovoltaic power generation, the power station has also built a supporting energy storage system to store excess solar energy with the battery, so that it can be released when there is insufficient light or peak electricity demand at night.
China's largest tidal flat photovoltaic storage power station starts operation
Leaders of the China Search and Rescue Team dispatched to Myanmar following a deadly earthquake recalled details of their difficult rescue operations.
The powerful 7.9-magnitude quake, the strongest recorded in the country in a century, rocked the Sagaing Region of Myanmar on March 28, with the epicenter close to Mandalay, the country's second-largest city.
As of April 2, the China Search and Rescue Team had successfully participated in the rescue of five survivors since arriving in the earthquake-stricken area in Myanmar. Chinese rescue forces as a whole had rescued a total of nine survivors.
Zhao Ming, head of the Chinese national rescue team, said in an interview with China Media Group that the high temperature increased the difficulty of rescue. Fortunately, the rescue team received support from the local people.
"We brought along some necessary medicines and equipment, and actively sought solutions locally. I think our actions inspired the local people, who spontaneously sent us some drinks and many electric fans. Of course, we also took strict measures on the rescue scene. The smell of decay was very strong at the earthquake site, so we asked our operation teams to conduct disinfection before leaving the site and after returning," Zhao said.
On March 31, the China Search and Rescue Team pulled out four survivors - three adult females and a girl - after 13 hours of hard work in Myanmar's seriously-hit Mandalay City.
At 00:40 March 31 local time, an adult female trapped for nearly 60 hours was rescued after over five hours of relentless work, marking the first survivor rescued by the team in the city.
Without pausing for rest, the rescuers immediately moved to another nearby site at the Sky Villa apartment complex.
Recalling details of the rescue mission, Li Guangnai, deputy leader of the China Search and Rescue Team, said that effective search and rescue methods improved efficiency at the dangerous and complicated structure.
"When we rescued the second and third survivors, they were in Block C of the apartment, which collapsed like a pancake. After arriving at the scene, the rescuers went to the roof according to the direction given by the survivors' family members. When we used the radar life detector on the roof, we did not find them. So we created absolute silence by suspending all rescue operations and then knocked on the floor with stones to transmit the sound to see if there was any response from the trapped people. We knocked continuously and received a response from inside. Through the sound, we quickly confirmed the approximate location. According to the evaluation of the experts on the scene, we used a method of top-to-bottom demolition for the rescue," Li said.
At 05:37 on the day, a 5-year-old girl who was buried in Block C of Sky Villa was rescued. Li said the girl was curled up in fear in the corner of the wardrobe when being found, protecting her head with a teddy bear.
About an hour later, a woman who was buried in the same rubble was successfully rescued. She was 26 weeks pregnant. At around 07:15, a 29-year-old woman trapped in Block A of Sky Villa was pulled out of the debris. She was trapped under the broken beam on the sixth floor for 65 hours.
Another survivor was miraculously pulled out alive from beneath the rubble of a collapsed hotel in central Myanmar's disaster-hit Mandalay City on April 2. The male survivor was said to be in a stable condition after spending nearly 125 hours buried among the ruins of the Golden Country Hotel building.
Zhao said that after the 72-hour "golden window" for rescue, the China Search and Rescue Team would begin to cooperate with local authorities to carry out diagnosis and treatment of the injured and disaster assessment.
"As the possibility of finding survivors in the disaster area decreases, our team can assist the local area in some other work. For example, today we officially set up an outpatient clinic on the street with the permission of the local government. Our earthquake engineering experts can conduct emergency assessments on some buildings," he said.
Chinese rescue team recalls details in Myanmar earthquake rescue missions
