Recently, a key milestone has been achieved in the 100 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project of China Energy’s Tianshan North Foothills New Energy Base in Xinjiang: the country’s first intelligent assembly production line for high-wind-resistance heliostats has been fully completed and put into mass production.
Developed independently by Dongfang Boiler, a subsidiary of Dongfang Electric Corporation, in collaboration with Dongfang Digital Technology, the production line integrates intelligent assembly, automated inspection, and digitalized manufacturing, injecting new momentum of smart manufacturing into China’s renewable energy industry.
The project is located in Hami City, Xinjiang, and serves as a key supporting power source for the national “Hami–Chongqing ±800 kV UHVDC Transmission Project.” The production line enables full-process automated control from component fabrication to final product delivery. It overcomes critical technical challenges such as high-precision bonding of large-scale heliostats and matching design for extreme wind loads, supported by more than ten invention patents, ensuring reliable performance under extreme wind conditions.
Through the coordinated operation of large-scale intelligent lifting systems, automated module assembly, and real-time surface shape inspection, the line significantly improves both manufacturing precision and efficiency. At present, the automated capacity of a single production line has reached the highest level in the industry, ensuring standardized production while substantially shortening delivery cycles.
As a core component of CSP systems, heliostats play a decisive role in plant stability and solar-to-electric conversion efficiency, with wind resistance and manufacturing accuracy being particularly critical. The successful deployment of this production line not only enhances the reliability of heliostats under extreme environmental conditions, but also provides a scalable solution for CSP development in high-wind regions such as coastal and plateau areas.
What is meant by “high wind resistance” in this case as I live in Australia, and we have Cyclone ratings which are quite specific. Those ratings have been the basis of disallowing renewable energy technologies to be deployed including PV.
I say this as I think CSP with storage will become the go to technology for fully dispatchable power in those areas of the world where we have sunlight at the heating levels required to make this tech the most efficient selection. Australia is slow but the Chinese have been and are leading in this space and blazing that trail which we cannot keep on ignoring so again, knowing the actual wind resistance level would be essential information.