In the field of solar power, photothermal technology has always been under the shadow of photovoltaics. At present, over 90% of the world's solar power market is occupied by polysilicon photovoltaic power generation technology, and more and more countries have begun to incorporate it into the future development plan of green energy.
However, in the United States, the world’s largest energy-consuming country, it has been continuously laying out a new blueprint based on light and heat technologies. Following the construction of the world’s largest solar power plant using concentrating photothermal technology, a series of solar energy projects recently planned and approved by the California State Government have adopted concentrating CSP technology without exception.
Solar energy utilization has recently been relatively "hot"
The so-called concentrating photothermal power generation refers to the process of collecting solar thermal energy by using a large-scale array of parabolic or dish-shaped mirrors, providing steam through a heat exchange device, and combining a conventional turbine generator, so as to achieve the purpose of power generation.
Compared with photovoltaic power generation, photothermal power generation avoids the expensive silicon crystal photoelectric conversion process and greatly reduces the cost of solar power generation. Moreover, this form of solar energy utilization has an advantage that other forms of solar energy conversion cannot match: solar water can be stored in huge containers, and when the light is insufficient, thermal power generation can be used to achieve continuous power supply. Stable, especially suitable for large-scale grid-connected power generation in strong light-ridden desert areas.
According to experts, at present, the United States, Spain, Germany, and other countries are advancing at a very fast pace in the industrialization of CSP technology. Solar thermal power generation has installed an installed capacity of nearly 700,000 kW in the world and nearly 1 million kW under construction. Among them, Spain plans to build 1.8 million kW by 2012, and the United States has also proposed plans to build 4.8 million kW of projects in recent years, of which 3.2 million kW have signed construction contracts.
There are different application conditions for challenging photovoltaic power and photovoltaic power generation. Under current conditions, although solar thermal power generation is a rising star, in some respects, PV has no advantages.
In terms of technical applicability, PV power generation technology is more mature and technology is more practical, but the technical difficulty is also higher. The core technology is still in the hands of a few developed countries such as the United States and Japan. The threshold of photothermal technology should be low. Under the joint efforts of the Ministry of Science and Technology and other scientific research projects and industry alliances, much progress has been made. The gap between China and the world in this field is not very great. Although there are still many technical issues to overcome in terms of heat storage, cooling, etc., these problems cannot be solved, but they can be achieved through participation in technical cooperation, implementation of incentives for hi-tech R&D policies, and so on.
Secondly, the production of photovoltaic crystalline silicon cells can not get rid of high pollution and high energy consumption in the short term. At present, China's crystalline silicon battery, 80% of the material needs to be imported from abroad, and 90% of the finished products sold back overseas. Although it can earn a certain amount of industrial profits, it will still face the pressure of questioning environmental pollution in a short period of time. In contrast, the construction and maintenance of a CSP station is much less damaging to the environment.
Of course, from the perspective of layout and other aspects, the leading advantage of photovoltaic power generation is very obvious. Its layout is more flexible. It can build large-scale photovoltaic power plants. It can also install photovoltaic cells on the roof, and even mobile devices. With the help of the development of the smart grid in the future, photovoltaic power generation in the home can be freely incorporated into the network, and the development prospects are huge. The scale effect of solar thermal power generation is obvious. The greater the scale of the power plant, the lower the cost per unit of electricity. Therefore, CSP is only suitable for large-scale power plants, and it has a high demand for land area and capital scale.
China's solar energy should also walk on two legs. The US investment and promotion in the field of CSP has also brought inspiration to China. If the large-scale commercial application of CSP technology is successful, it will inevitably bring about a major breakthrough in the promotion and popularization of CSP technology. China's sunlight resources are abundant, and the sunshine hours in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Gansu are more than 2,200 hours, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total land area. The annual energy received by solar radiation is equivalent to the power generation of tens of thousands of Three Gorges Projects or the heat of 1.7 billion tons of standard coal. The development of CSP is of infinite potential.
China's solar thermal power generation is still at the stage of technology research and development. There is not yet a solar thermal power plant that is actually put into commercial applications. However, breakthroughs have been made in key areas such as heat storage technology, and it has become possible to independently build large-scale solar thermal power plants.
Of course, the realization of high-speed industrialization of CSP is not a smooth road. Compared with the photovoltaic power generation that is at the forefront, the latter has formed a large-scale integrated industrial chain. The technology is becoming more and more mature. The state and local governments have formulated clear industrial plans and provided subsidies including project subsidies and on-grid tariffs. Compared with policy support, the policy support system for the CSP industry has not yet been formed.
However, photothermal energy, like photovoltaics, faces the same key issue in cost-effectiveness in large-scale deployment and application. Experts said that lack of strong policy support, solar power will still be difficult to achieve a breakthrough in price bottlenecks in the short term. If China solar energy wants to achieve two-legged walks, it will take a long way to go.
However, in the United States, the world’s largest energy-consuming country, it has been continuously laying out a new blueprint based on light and heat technologies. Following the construction of the world’s largest solar power plant using concentrating photothermal technology, a series of solar energy projects recently planned and approved by the California State Government have adopted concentrating CSP technology without exception.
Solar energy utilization has recently been relatively "hot"
The so-called concentrating photothermal power generation refers to the process of collecting solar thermal energy by using a large-scale array of parabolic or dish-shaped mirrors, providing steam through a heat exchange device, and combining a conventional turbine generator, so as to achieve the purpose of power generation.
Compared with photovoltaic power generation, photothermal power generation avoids the expensive silicon crystal photoelectric conversion process and greatly reduces the cost of solar power generation. Moreover, this form of solar energy utilization has an advantage that other forms of solar energy conversion cannot match: solar water can be stored in huge containers, and when the light is insufficient, thermal power generation can be used to achieve continuous power supply. Stable, especially suitable for large-scale grid-connected power generation in strong light-ridden desert areas.
According to experts, at present, the United States, Spain, Germany, and other countries are advancing at a very fast pace in the industrialization of CSP technology. Solar thermal power generation has installed an installed capacity of nearly 700,000 kW in the world and nearly 1 million kW under construction. Among them, Spain plans to build 1.8 million kW by 2012, and the United States has also proposed plans to build 4.8 million kW of projects in recent years, of which 3.2 million kW have signed construction contracts.
There are different application conditions for challenging photovoltaic power and photovoltaic power generation. Under current conditions, although solar thermal power generation is a rising star, in some respects, PV has no advantages.
In terms of technical applicability, PV power generation technology is more mature and technology is more practical, but the technical difficulty is also higher. The core technology is still in the hands of a few developed countries such as the United States and Japan. The threshold of photothermal technology should be low. Under the joint efforts of the Ministry of Science and Technology and other scientific research projects and industry alliances, much progress has been made. The gap between China and the world in this field is not very great. Although there are still many technical issues to overcome in terms of heat storage, cooling, etc., these problems cannot be solved, but they can be achieved through participation in technical cooperation, implementation of incentives for hi-tech R&D policies, and so on.
Secondly, the production of photovoltaic crystalline silicon cells can not get rid of high pollution and high energy consumption in the short term. At present, China's crystalline silicon battery, 80% of the material needs to be imported from abroad, and 90% of the finished products sold back overseas. Although it can earn a certain amount of industrial profits, it will still face the pressure of questioning environmental pollution in a short period of time. In contrast, the construction and maintenance of a CSP station is much less damaging to the environment.
Of course, from the perspective of layout and other aspects, the leading advantage of photovoltaic power generation is very obvious. Its layout is more flexible. It can build large-scale photovoltaic power plants. It can also install photovoltaic cells on the roof, and even mobile devices. With the help of the development of the smart grid in the future, photovoltaic power generation in the home can be freely incorporated into the network, and the development prospects are huge. The scale effect of solar thermal power generation is obvious. The greater the scale of the power plant, the lower the cost per unit of electricity. Therefore, CSP is only suitable for large-scale power plants, and it has a high demand for land area and capital scale.
China's solar energy should also walk on two legs. The US investment and promotion in the field of CSP has also brought inspiration to China. If the large-scale commercial application of CSP technology is successful, it will inevitably bring about a major breakthrough in the promotion and popularization of CSP technology. China's sunlight resources are abundant, and the sunshine hours in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Gansu are more than 2,200 hours, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total land area. The annual energy received by solar radiation is equivalent to the power generation of tens of thousands of Three Gorges Projects or the heat of 1.7 billion tons of standard coal. The development of CSP is of infinite potential.
China's solar thermal power generation is still at the stage of technology research and development. There is not yet a solar thermal power plant that is actually put into commercial applications. However, breakthroughs have been made in key areas such as heat storage technology, and it has become possible to independently build large-scale solar thermal power plants.
Of course, the realization of high-speed industrialization of CSP is not a smooth road. Compared with the photovoltaic power generation that is at the forefront, the latter has formed a large-scale integrated industrial chain. The technology is becoming more and more mature. The state and local governments have formulated clear industrial plans and provided subsidies including project subsidies and on-grid tariffs. Compared with policy support, the policy support system for the CSP industry has not yet been formed.
However, photothermal energy, like photovoltaics, faces the same key issue in cost-effectiveness in large-scale deployment and application. Experts said that lack of strong policy support, solar power will still be difficult to achieve a breakthrough in price bottlenecks in the short term. If China solar energy wants to achieve two-legged walks, it will take a long way to go.
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