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wiredInUSA - September 2015
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Construction has begun on a 200MW
solar energy project in China’s Gobi
Desert. Once completed, the facility is
expected to be the largest solar energy
project in the country with a project area
of 2,550 hectares. According to Qinghai
Solar-Thermal Power Group, the Qinghai
province facility is designed to produce
enough electricity to supply up to one
million regional households.
The facility is of a “solar energy tower”
design, thought to be more efficient than
the more commonly used “solar trough”
systems. Group board chair Wu Longyi
commented: “Its designed heat storage
is 15 hours, thus, it can guarantee stable,
continual power generation.”
The 200MW facility will be the country’s first
large-scale solar project under commercial
operation.
China is aiming to grow to 100GW of solar
capacity by the year 2020, up from around
28GW in 2014, but this represents only a
fraction of China’s electricity generation
capacity; fossil fuels remain dominant in
the country.
China’s solar
expansion
The chairman of the Pakistan atomic
Energy Commission (PAEC), Muhammad
Naeem, has confirmed a government-set
target of 40,000MW of electricity by 2050
to help resolve the electricity crisis in the
country.
“We are confident about achieving this
target within the stipulated period, as all
the requisite projects and plans are in
place for this purpose,” he said.
Muhammad Naeemwas speaking at the
13
th
Convocation of the Karachi Institute
of Power Engineering (KINPOE), adjacent
to the Karachi nuclear power plant
(KANUPP). He added that PAEC is set to
meet the target set by the government
to produce 8,800MW of electricity by
2030.
Naeem said that the PAEC has worked
hard to enhance its role in power
generation, adding that an immense
contribution has been made to the
country's nuclear program by the
graduates of Pakistan Institute of
Engineering and Applied Sciences
(PIEAS) and Karachi Institute of Power
Engineering (KINPOE).
Pakistan tackles power
crisis