• DOI:10.1039/c4em00235k
• Corpus ID: 11604440

Environmental impacts of large-scale CSP plants in northwestern China.

@article{Wu2014EnvironmentalIO,
  title={Environmental impacts of large-scale CSP plants in northwestern China.},
  author={Zhiyong Wu and Anping Hou and Chun Chang and Xiang Huang and Duoqi Shi and Zhifeng Wang},
  journal={Environmental science. Processes \& impacts},
  year={2014},
  volume={16 10},
  pages={
          2432-41
        }
}

• Zhiyong Wu, Anping Hou, +3 authors Zhifeng Wang
• Published 24 September 2014
• Environmental Science
• Environmental science. Processes & impacts

Several concentrated solar power demonstration plants are being constructed, and a few commercial plants have been announced in northwestern China. However, the mutual impacts between the concentrated solar power plants and their surrounding environments have not yet been addressed comprehensively in literature by the parties involved in these projects. In China, these projects are especially important as an increasing amount of low carbon electricity needs to be generated in order to maintain the current economic growth while simultaneously lessening pollution. In this study, the authors assess the potential environmental impacts of large-scale concentrated solar power plants. Specifically, the water use intensity, soil erosion and soil temperature are quantitatively examined. It was found that some of the impacts are favorable, while some impacts are negative in relation to traditional power generation techniques and some need further research before they can be reasonably appraised. In quantitative terms, concentrated solar power plants consume about 4000 L MW(-1) h(-1) of water if wet cooling technology is used, and the collectors lead to the soil temperature changes of between 0.5 and 4 °C; however, it was found that the soil erosion is dramatically alleviated. The results of this study are helpful to decision-makers in concentrated solar power site selection and regional planning. Some conclusions of this study are also valid for large-scale photovoltaic plants.