World's highest solar thermal power plant completes mirror installation

The world's highest-altitude tower-type solar thermal power plant, located in Amdo county in the Xizang autonomous region, has completed the installation of its mirrors - 15,927 of them - marking a major milestone toward grid-connected power generation later this year, Xizang Daily reported.

The 100-megawatt solar thermal power station, built by Xizang Development Investment Group, is the first power plant of its kind in Xizang. The project is part of the region's key energy development plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) and belongs to a broader 750MW solar thermal initiative in the region, it said.

The site in northern Xizang receives more than 2,800 hours of sunshine annually. Spread across a field of 800,000 square meters, the mirrors - called heliostats - reflect sunlight toward a central receiving tower, creating what developers describe as an "ocean of light".