World's first dual-tower solar thermal power plant starts trial operation

The world's first solar thermal power plant with two towers and a single generator began trial operation on Thursday in Guazhou County of northwest China's Gansu Province.

The system uses nearly 27,000 heliostats to focus sunlight onto the each of the 200-meter-high towers, heating molten salt inside them for energy storage.

Like a traditional coal plant, the concentrated sunlight heats water to generate electricity. Unlike other thermal power plants, this design can produce power at night. Molten salt stored within the towers acts like a thermal battery, retaining extra heat collected during the daytime and releasing it to keep the generators running continuously.

The innovative dual-tower design enhances overall efficiency by 24 percent over classic single-tower Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) systems, as mirrors can be shared by the two towers through intelligent control.

"The project has started full-system trial operation, which is a key stage from construction to operation of the power plant. It means all links of the project have the technical conditions for safe and stable operation, laying a solid foundation for its commissioning," said Yang Xuliang, manager of the project.

The solar thermal power plant has an installed capacity of 100,000 kilowatts. It will be part of Guazhou's 700,000-kilowatt project, which consists of a 400,000-kilowatt wind farm and a 200,000-kilowatt photovoltaic plant.

The entire project can generate 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 1.53 million tons.

World's first dual-tower solar thermal power plant starts trial operation

World's first dual-tower solar thermal power plant starts trial operation

World's first dual-tower solar thermal power plant starts trial operation

A China Media Group (CMG) reporter helped evacuate Chinese nationals stranded at Dubai International Airport before it was damaged in an ''incident" early on Sunday morning.

The reporter, who went to the airport by car to investigate flight delays, met several stranded Chinese nationals at the airport who had been unable to leave on their scheduled flights as the Middle East conflict forced airlines to stall operations.

The Chinese passengers said after they arrived a little before 19:00, the check-in counter was closed, raising their concern that the airport might be taken over by the military.

"I was thinking of finding some chairs for the kids to sleep on before going back to ask what was going on. At first, the airport staff offered to help, but then some people who looked like soldiers came and told us to leave," said a Chinese passenger.

Footage from the reporter showed that the area outside the airport was almost deserted, with very few vehicles. Public transportation had been suspended early, and only police cars were parked on both sides of the road, with emergency staff signaling all civilian vehicles to leave immediately.

Dubai Airports confirmed that a concourse at Dubai International Airport later sustained minor damage in what it referred to as an “incident”. Emergency response teams were immediately deployed and were managing the situation in coordination with the relevant authorities. Aviation sources told Reuters news agency that one of the terminals had been damaged during an overnight Iranian attack.

The Dubai Media Office said that four staff members sustained injuries and received prompt medical attention.

CMG reporter helps evacuate Chinese nationals from Dubai airport