The Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has recently launched an international design competition for a tower building, the key architecture of its planned first-ever solar thermal power plant to be built near the foot of the Badaling Great Wall in northern suburb of Beijing.

This satellite map shows the geographical location of the planned IEE solar tower power plant in Beijing's Badaling area. [File Photo: iee.ac.cn]

The IEE solar thermal power plant which will work as a model for China's upcoming other new solar power plants around the country will also be the first such project in Asia.

The landmark solar power plant tower, which will be built up to over 100 meters tall, will work to receive focused solar energy that will be reflected onto its top solar receiver by an array of thousands of sun-tracking mirrors, or heliostats, installed in front of the foot of the tower.

According to iee.ac.cn, the official website of IEE, the solar power plant tower design competition began to accept worldwide design entries from November 23rd, and will wind up on January 15th.

The design competition will produce one first prize winner, two second prize winners and three third prize winners. The first prize winner will get a 30,000 yuan award, second prize winners will get 20,000 yuan each, and third prize winners will get 5,000 yuan each. Six more excellent award recipients will also enjoy a 1,000 yuan award for each.

A key scientific project under China's 11th Five-Year Development Plan, the IEE solar power plant project is jointly financed by China's Ministry of Science and Technology, the CAS and Beijing's Municipal Commission for Science and Technology.

(CRI December 6, 2007)