How to reduce the cost of China's CSP

“From now on, there are many foreign experiences that we can learn from, but whether we look at light energy, photovoltaic or wind power, we must ultimately reduce costs through manufacturing in China.” In recent days, “2014 China’s Focus on Photothermal Power Generation” "At the conference, Xu Haiwei, an engineer of the China Huaneng Group Clean Energy Technology Institute, said.

There are also PV analysts predicting that "the cumulative installed capacity of global CSP will be approximately 7.1 GW by 2020 and that of China's CSP will be approximately 300-400 MW."

Although the "hot" level of CSP is far less than that of the photovoltaic industry, many "people with lofty ideals" are still working hard for China's CSP industry.

Among them, "How to use China's manufacturing to reduce the cost of solar thermal power generation" has become one of the focus topics.

Promoting demand through projects The National Energy Administration is expected to introduce the guiding electricity price of solar thermal power in the second half of the year and launch a number of pilot demonstration projects.

“I’m optimistic.” Jose Barak, Senior Vice President of American Bright Source, discussed the issue of manufacturing in China. “In terms of trough CSP, there are already seven or eight Chinese companies in operation, and at least five companies are producing The mirrors are of good quality. Our staff visited these factories and the assembly in the factory looks modern."

He said that a mirror made by a Chinese manufacturer had just been tested in the test area of ​​Liangyuan Company recently and it worked well. Jose Barak said: "What we need to do now is to organize these excellent manufacturers and provide them with products for the CSP market."

Also optimistic is Xu Haiwei. “Now some Chinese companies are actively participating in the research and development of light and heat products. The most typical is the reduction of collector tube prices. It has a lot to do with 'Made in China'. In addition, the production of molten salt pumps, electric parts and other components There are some Chinese manufacturers participating in the development, Xu Haiwei said.

However, how can we mobilize more manufacturers to grow the domestic market for light and heat? "We need a good project to attract more manufacturing companies to enter this industry." Xu Haiwei said.

He believes that the cost can not be reduced, mainly to see if there is a greater market demand. Therefore, under the circumstances that the market has not yet been established, there is a need for policy incentives as soon as possible, and some demonstration projects will be carried out to form a certain demand.

It is gratifying that recent news revealed that the National Energy Administration is expected to issue guidance solar power for solar thermal power generation in the second half of the year and launch a number of pilot demonstration projects.

"There must be a project first, followed by the follow-up of equipment manufacturers. No one manufacturer will make a bunch of equipment and wait for the market," said Fu Kefu, a partner at Greater China in the US Renewable Energy Group.

If the equipment and components cannot be standardized, it will be difficult to produce on a large scale, and the cost will be hard to reduce.

“Each of your projects needs customized products. Indicators like size are all different. We have to do it according to your parameter requirements. Is there a possibility that we can build a standard in our industry? This may be It will also be a better way to reduce costs.” The panel discussion at the meeting is not yet over. Mr. Cai, a manufacturer of optical and thermal devices from Germany, could not help but “tap”.

In fact, this issue reflects the voice of many manufacturers. The issue of technical standards is plagued by the development of light and heat "Made in China."

“If the equipment and components cannot be standardized, it will be difficult to produce on a large scale and the cost will be difficult to reduce. But now, there is no way to harmonize manufacturing standards and certification systems,” said Li Wei, president of Shenzhen Ainengsen Technology Co., Ltd.

At present, only the technology market for CSP includes four technology schools: trough, tower, disc, and Fresnel.

In this regard, Fu Kefu said that at the specification level, there are many technical schools in the light and heat industry, and large-scale production is difficult. What's more, the standards among companies of the same technology genre are also different, which makes it difficult for manufacturers to support the work of both companies through large-scale production.

However, Fukov did not feel too hard on this issue. "In the future, with the development of technology and economy, in the end everyone may still be unified into a single specification. This will also greatly help the production of equipment," said Fu Kefu.

"The technology is different, the technical route is different, and the requirements are different. We are doing some standardization work in the trough area, so that it has a similar size, configuration." Yehuda Harats, president of Ener-T International, said.

Drawing on the experiences of foreign countries and participating in international cooperation through cooperation and experience has also become one of the roads that China's light and heat manufacturing can reduce costs and go into "paradise."

"Either go to heaven or go to hell." At the conference, Vimal Kumar, project director of Cargo Solar Power, quoted such an Indian proverb. "This is also true in the field of optoelectronics. If you don't do things, don't build projects, don't study, If you don't spend money, you will die soon."

From the experts' point of view, like building projects and setting standards, drawing on foreign experience and participating in international cooperation has also become one of the roads that China's solar-thermal manufacturing can reduce costs and go into “heaven”.

“For CSP, time is money.” Fu Kefu believes that not all products must rely on independent research and development. “Foreign companies have accumulated more than 30 years of experience in this industry, and some experience can be used in China. There is no need for everything to be redone."

Li Lan said that domestic CSP companies are not lacking in basic technologies but are scarce in terms of overall production experience and engineering experience. So if domestic projects are not so fast, companies can consider participating in international projects in order to increase their experience. "Even if it will pay a little price, it is worth it," said Li Xin.

Vimal Kumar said that in the past two to three years, everyone has been looking at the development of India's light and heat market. At first, many people thought that the Indian market was a failure, but now it does not seem to be the case. “On the commercial level, in the past two or three years, we have gained a lot of experience in cost reduction, and we can guarantee that we will not compromise quality when we reduce costs. China has abundant human resources and highly qualified employees. Learning to explore the possibility of reducing costs.”

"China must make use of these international experiences, and it is not necessary to design and manufacture everything from scratch," Jose Barak added.