The Chinese State-owned electricity utility Huanghe Hydropower Development is working on construction a 202.8 MW/MWh solar-plus-storage project in Qinghai a desert in China’s northwestern province. The facility is expected to be connected to an ultra-high voltage power line which the State Grid Corp of China is currently working on to connect the far northwest of the country to the highly populated eastern provinces.
The US$3.18 billion power line will include the construction of two converter stations with a transmission capacity 8 GW of and the line will extend 1,587km across the Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi and Henan provinces. The solar-plus-storage project is a segment of the 3,182 MW solar scheme Huanghe Hydropower announced in December of 2019, according to Sungrow, a Chinese inverter maker, which is responsible for making the 1500 V, SG250HX string inverters as well as storage spaces for the facility.
In December, Huanghe Hydropower Development named the nine solar panel manufacturers which will supply the 3,182 MW of PV generation capacity in the first phase of a gigantic, 16 GW renewable energy project which is expected to include 10 GW of new solar. Currently, construction has already started on the 64km² first phase of the scheme and was set to be completed by October of 2020. Trina Solar was to lead the list of PV suppliers for the first stage by shipping 600 MW of its panels, according to the Huanghe Hydropower chairman Xie Xiaoping, who presented details at the recent China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) annual conference held at Shenzhen.
Also read: World’s largest solar modules production plant to be constructed in China.
The solar-plus-storage plant will be the first part of a 16 GW renewable energy hub which is set to include 10 GW of solar generation capacity. Sungrow stated during a press meeting that the solar-plus-storage facility is going to be equipped with a sub-array energy management function which will enable them to ensure smooth power output while improving prediction accuracy for solar power generation. “The customized, AC-coupled, low-voltage design can guarantee cost-savings for the customer,” Sungrow said in a statement. “Furthermore, the flexibly-built microgrid system with Sungrow PV and energy storage system is able to supply the electricity in the early construction period and slash the construction time.”
