On June 29, 2026, the CGN Jixi 100 MW CSP Plant, the first of its kind in Northeast China and the highest-latitude CSP plant in the country, was commissioned for power generation in Da'an City, Jilin Province. This marks a major breakthrough in the application of concentrated solar power generation technology in high-latitude severe cold regions, providing a replicable and scalable model for the development and construction of similar projects in China.

Located in a severe cold climate zone at 45.36 degrees north latitude, the plant adopts a single-tower, single-solar-field molten salt tower technical route. With an installed capacity of 100 MW and a thermal storage duration of up to 8 hours, it provides the capability for safe, stable, and continuous 24-hour operation, with turbine-generator units capable of rapid startup. The solar field consists of 19,667 high-precision heliostats with a total area of approximately 590,000 square meters. They can track the sun's trajectory in real-time, precisely reflecting and concentrating sunlight onto the receiver at a central elevation of 210 meters, where light energy is converted into high-temperature thermal energy at 565°C and stored in the auxiliary molten salt thermal energy storage system. Since the temperature drop of the storage tank is better than the design value, the stored thermal energy can be used for power generation on the same day, or, depending on weather conditions, for power generation on the following day or even longer periods.

As one of the country's first batch of integrated wind-solar-thermal-storage demonstration projects in desert, Gobi and arid areas, the CSP plant is equipped with a 40 MW molten salt electric heater. It can effectively coordinate with the previously commissioned CGN Jixi 260 MW Wind Power Project and 130 MW Photovoltaic Project at the site, converting surplus wind and solar energy into thermal energy when the power generation exceeds demand, thereby effectively mitigating wind and solar curtailment and improving comprehensive energy utilization efficiency.

"The project site features extremely harsh natural conditions, with minimum temperatures reaching -37.3°C and wind speeds up to Force 9, and multiple engineering challenges including saline-alkaline geology, high groundwater table, and heavy clay soil," said Mr. Zhao Xiong, head of the CGN Jixi CSP Project Company. Through systematic technological breakthroughs, CGN has successfully mastered a complete set of key technologies, including molten salt anti-solidification, solar field wind and snow resistance, low-temperature pile foundation construction, and composite waterproofing for large storage tanks, forming a standardized solution replicable in severe cold regions above 45 degrees north latitude and under harsh geological conditions. This means that China now possesses the capability to build large-scale CSP plants in alpine environments.

To strictly control the receiver tower verticality accuracy, the project team overcame difficulties and innovatively adopted a construction process in which friction bears the load of the main structure. The overall vertical deviation of the 189-meter receiver tower was controlled within 10 millimeters, fully demonstrating the project's high-standard and refined full-process construction management.

Mr. Jiang Tonghai, Party Branch Secretary and Chairman of CGN (Jilin) New Energy Investment Co., Ltd., stated that CSPr is a green and low-carbon, grid-friendly power source, serving as both a peak-shaving power source and energy storage, and is an effective, safe, and reliable means for new energy to replace traditional energy. Once the project is put into operation, it is expected to achieve an annual power generation of 180 million kWh, equivalent to saving approximately 54,000 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 139,000 tons, yielding significant energy-saving and environmental benefits. During the construction and operation phases, the project created over 2,000 local jobs in total, drove the coordinated development of upstream and downstream industrial chains, and achieved an organic unity of economic, social, and ecological benefits.