Major power and energy project developer Energy China (CEEC) has started construction on a 900 MW solar thermal and PV project in Damxung County, Lhasa, Tibet.
Located in Wumatang Township, the project comprises 100 MW of concentrated solar power (CSP) and 800 MW of PV capacity, and is located at an altitude of 4,541 meters, making it among the highest CSP installations globally.
The CSP system uses CEEC’s 8.6-meter aperture parabolic trough technology with a 6-hour molten salt storage system to enable night-time generation, while the PV section adopts a ‘pastoral-solar complementary’ model.
Once operational, the project is expected to generate 1.56 TWh annually, reducing CO₂ emissions by 1.25 million tons.
Last month, a 1 GW CSP-PV integrated project in Bozhou, Xinjiang, completed the natural-gas preheating ignition of its molten-salt tank (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
China National Coal Group has released results for its first 2026 centralized PV inverter procurement, covering 3 GW of 1,500 V string inverters rated between 300 kW and 400 kW.
The contract has been split among 3 suppliers in a 5:3:2 ratio: CNBM Xinyun (1.5 GW at RMB 0.102/W), Sineng Electric (900 MW at RMB 0.083/W), and Sungrow (600 MW at RMB 0.094/W).
The weighted average bid price was RMB 0.0944/W.
In its Q1 2026 report, the China Electricity Council (CEC) projects that solar power capacity will exceed coal-fired capacity for the first time in 2026.
New installations are expected to surpass 400 GW in 2026, with more than 300 GW from renewable sources. By the end of the year, wind and solar combined are projected to account for around 50% of total installed capacity.
According to the report, China’s total installed capacity reached 3.96 TW as of Q1 2026, with non-fossil sources accounting for 2.46 TW, or 62.0% of the total. Wind and solar together represented 47.9%.
Lithium-ion battery anode material manufacturer Binhai Energy has terminated its planned expansion into PV manufacturing, including a 5 GW solar cell facility and a 10 GW monocrystalline pulling facility in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. The projects, approved in 2024, have been halted due to changes in industry conditions.
The company said resources will be redirected to its core materials business, including silicon-carbon anode materials, with ongoing projects such as a 2,000 t/year production facility.
In March last year, Binhai Energy announced plans to invest in a 580 MW integrated renewable energy project through its wholly owned subsidiary (see China Solar PV News Snippets).