29 January 2010: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will support, through its Climate Change Fund, projects in two Chinese provinces, with one project evaluating the potential to reduce carbon emissions and the other establishing a large scale concentrated solar thermal plant.
The first project will assist, with a US$0.4 million grant, the Province of Yunnan, China, in undertaking a review of energy consumption, energy efficiency and the potential to reduce carbon emissions in the province’s five energy-intensive industries, namely iron and steel, power generation, chemicals, building materials and non-ferrous metals.
The second project will issue a US$1 million grant to implement a 1.5 megawatt (MW) large-scale concentrated solar thermal (CST) plant and carry out the pre-feasibility assessment of a 50 MW CST power demonstration project in Gansu province. CST power, which provides electricity by generating heat to operate a steam turbine that drives a generator, has advantages over solar photovoltaic panels as the power produced is available continuously and at a more competitive price. [ADB Press Release, 21 January 2010 ] [ADB Press Release, 29 January 2010].