At present, both the steam turbine company and the electrical machine company of HEC have won the bid for the steam turbine generator units of the 50MW Solar Thermal Power Generation Demonstration Project at Gonghe, Qinghai, of Power Construction Corporation of China.

Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, China has planned and built a multitude of solar thermal power generation demonstration projects. Therefore, HEC deeply explored the solar thermal power generation technique, took the 50MW unit as the main breakthrough, elaborately carried out the pre-research and full technological development, and overcome a series of technical difficulties caused by the unconventional requirements of solar thermal power generation projects, such as high altitude, double-terminal driving, integral transportation and installation, entire lateral migration and short date of delivery.

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The 50MW tower-type solar thermal project at Gonghe, Qinghai is one of the first 20 solar thermal power generation demonstration projects published in September, 2016 by China, which is equipped with a 6-hour heat storage system by molten salt. The altitude for generator operation is 2900m, the single installed capacity is 50MW, the power factor is 0.8 (lagged), and the voltage level is 10.5kV. This project will make a significant contribution to the improvement of energy structure in the western region, the promotion of absorption of renewable energy in the western region and the construction of large new energy base and renewable energy base.