China has achieved a major milestone in renewable energy by launching the world’s first solar thermal power plant with a dual tower system in the Gobi Desert. Developed by the Three Gorges Corporation, a leading wind and solar energy company based in Guazhou County, the project combines innovation, efficiency and large-scale clean energy generation in one of the most challenging environments on Earth.
The Gobi Desert, stretching across northern China and southern Mongolia, is the sixth largest desert in the world. It receives only two to eight inches of rainfall each year, with some areas getting less than two. Despite its dryness, the region enjoys more than 3,000 hours of sunlight annually, making it an ideal location for solar energy production.
The new solar thermal facility features two towers, each 656 feet high, surrounded by 27,000 mirrors known as heliostats. These mirrors focus sunlight onto the towers, where the heat reaches up to 1,058 degrees Fahrenheit. The intense heat melts and stores energy in a high temperature medium, which is later used to generate steam. This steam drives a turbine, allowing electricity production to continue even after sunset or during cloudy weather.
Unlike traditional photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity, solar thermal systems use heat, making them capable of producing stable and on-demand power. The dual tower design enhances efficiency by about 25 percent compared to single tower systems. This is achieved by using one tower to capture sunlight in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The overlapping mirror fields also help reduce the number of mirrors needed, cutting construction costs since heliostats account for nearly 60 percent of total project expenses.
This power plant is part of a larger renewable energy complex that includes vast solar and wind farms across the region. Together, these installations will provide electricity to around half a million homes each year.
According to Wang Zhifeng, PhD, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, solar thermal energy is not a competitor to photovoltaic technology but rather a complementary solution that helps fill supply gaps.
China currently operates 21 commercial solar thermal plants with a total capacity of 1.57 million kilowatts. Another 30 projects under construction are expected to add about 3.1 million kilowatts, strengthening China’s position as a global leader in concentrated solar power.
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