China eyes solar-thermal power project

China is planning a series of solar-thermal power projects to help develop the technology.

The industrial scale of solar thermal power needs to be expanded, and an industrial chain on thermal equipment manufacturing and processing should be established, Xinhua cited the National Energy Administration (NEA) as saying on Wednesday.

To achieve that, the projects must be large enough to be used commercially, with capacity being no less than 50,000 kilowatts per unit, NEA said.

Industry experts will review the technical proposals and equipment, and all preliminary work for the project.

China is promoting clean energy, including hydro power, wind power, solar power and nuclear power.

By 2014, solar power capacity was 28.05 gigawatts in China, 400 times more than 2005, and there are plans to increase this to around 100 gigawatts by 2020.