The world’s highest utility-scale solar plus storage project

Chinese PV manufacturer Jetion Solar has announced completion of what it called the world’s highest-altitude, large scale solar-plus-storage project.

Built in Gangba county, in Xigaze, Tibet, the 40 MW/193 MWh facility sits more than 4,700m above sea level and receives more than 3,200 hours of sunlight per year, according to Jetion.

The plant is owned by Chinese battery manufacturer Dynavolt Renewable Energy Technology, Jetion said, with Dynavolt supplying the lithium-ion phosphate battery for a project for which Jetion provided engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services as well as the solar panels.

“Based on the characteristics of local electricity load and the particularity of the Tibet power grid, the project was designed as a full energy storage allocation project,” said Jetion. “The solar arrays will charge the storage during the day and the storage will fully power the grid during the night.”

The energy storage system, Jetion added, provides power to communities in Xigaze and also functions as a demonstration project for the role solar-plus-storage can play in offering services such as peak shaving, frequency modulation and renewable energy dispatch to the Tibetan grid.

“At the same time, this project will also make positive contributions to Xigaze’s industrial development, fiscal [performance] and taxation, labor employment and targeted poverty alleviation, and promote the development of Xigaze’s surrounding industries, such as agriculture and mining,” said the EPC.

No further technical or financial details of the project were disclosed in the statement issued by Jetion.