On November 20, encouraging news arrived from the site of Cosin Solar’s Golmud 350MW Tower CSP Project: the concrete pouring for the foundations of all three receiver towers has been fully completed, successfully achieving the goal of raising the tower foundations "above the benchmark level." As the world’s largest single-unit solar thermal project, the attainment of this milestone marks a favorable start for the full-scale construction of the project’s main engineering components.

Since the project officially commenced on October 16, the Cosin Solar project team has faced challenges posed by the high-altitude plateau environment. Through scientific organization and precise scheduling, the team ensured construction safety and quality while fully advancing the project’s progress. In a short period, they efficiently completed the critical engineering milestone of raising the three receiver towers "above the benchmark level," fully demonstrating Cosin Solar’s mature engineering management capabilities and extensive practical experience in constructing large-scale solar thermal projects under complex conditions.

Currently, insulation curing of the receiver tower foundations and foundation construction for the assembly workshop are being carried out simultaneously at the project site. The overall project is progressing in an orderly manner, showcasing a favorable trend of coordinated advancement. In the next phase, Cosin Solar will work closely with all participating units to continuously strengthen safety, quality, and progress management throughout the construction process, providing a solid guarantee for the project to achieve grid-connected power generation on schedule.

Project Overview

The Cosin Solar Golmud 350MW Tower CSP Project is the world's largest single-unit concentrated solar power plant. It adopts a "Three Towers, One Turbine" design and is equipped with a 14-hour molten salt thermal energy storage system. The total heliostat field area is approximately 3.3 million square meters. Upon completion, the project is expected to generate approximately 960 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually. This is equivalent to saving 263,400 tonnes of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 720,000 tonnes each year.

Cosin Solar is responsible for key aspects of the project, including full-process management, overall plant process design (excluding the conventional island), supply of core system equipment, and technical guidance for commissioning & O&M. The project innovatively applies advanced CSP technologies developed by Cosin Solar, such as multi-field energy synergy control technology, high-capacity safe and efficient molten salt receiver technology, distributed molten salt storage system solutions, and a highly intelligent smart operation system for CSP plants.

As one of the Qinghai Provincial CSP Demonstration (Pilot) Projects in 2024, the feed-in tariff for this project upon operation is set at 0.55 RMB/kWh (tax inclusive). Once operational, the project will fully leverage the capabilities of CSP technology in providing peak shaving, load balancing, frequency regulation, and backup power. It will significantly enhance the flexibility of Qinghai's power system and its power supply capacity during peak hours, promote the integration of wind and PV power, and hold great significance for Qinghai Province in accelerating the development of a national clean energy industry hub.