Feasibility and Potential of Parabolic Trough Solar Thermal Power Plants in Tibet of China

With the rapid development of economy, China´s appetite for electricity is getting larger and larger. The current coal-dominated electricity matrix has caused severe environmental degradation and energy shortage. China should make use of renewable energy resources to help transform its economy into a low-carbon one. Constructing parabolic trough solar thermal power (PTSTP) plants in China, will change the current coal-fired electricity matrix, save the conventional energy resources, and reduce CO₂ emissions. Tibet with excellent solar radiation would come to be regarded as a promising candidate site for the construction of PTSTP plants. In this paper, the feasibility and potential of PTSTP plants in Tibet would be evaluated and analyzed, and the annual power output of the PTSTP plants in three selected sites of Tibet would be simulated and evaluated. Policies beneficial to the development of PTSTP plants were concerned and interpreted in China. Under the strong support of Chinese government, large commercial-scale PTSTP plants in Tibet must be constructed in the near future.