This is a solar chimney plant system in Jinshawan, Wuhai city of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which is the country's first power plant that combines solar and wind power into power generation. Starting operation on Dec 10, the 200-kilowatt power generating unit can supply 400,000 kWh of electricity per year.

 Supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Government, the project was co-designed and -developed by Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology (IMUST) and the Technical University of Madrid, Spain.

   The facility, composed of three parts -- solar collectors, a chimney and a turbine generator -- absorbs heat from the hot sand under the glass cover using the greenhouse effect, transmitting the hot air flows to the chimney and generating power by turning the turbine inside of it. The energy stored in the sand, heated by the sunshine during the day, will discharge heat at night and continue to run the turbine.

   An air door has been added to integrate wind power into the power supply, which enables the system to operate in winter when there is minimal sunshine. In this way, the system can operate 365 days of a year around the clock.

  China's first solar chimney plant starts operating in desert (Xinhua) Updated: 2010-12-28 09:32

Solar updraft tower power generation