19/12/2025
Across western China, abundant reserves of coal, wind, and solar power coexist with one of the region’s most significant challenges: water scarcity. Traditional thermal power generation is highly water-intensive, making it difficult for the region to develop large-scale energy facilities.
To address these challenges, SLG's indirect air cooling products offer a solution: to replace concrete with steel structures and substitute water circulation with air circulation.
Our air-cooled steel tower technology relies on natural air convection to cool power generation units, significantly reducing freshwater consumption while maintaining high operational efficiency. In effect, it enables gigawatt-scale power plants to operate reliably with minimal water use—an essential capability for sustainable energy development in dry regions.
SLG's solution has been deployed across several major multi-energy projects:
Huaneng Zhengning 2 × 1,000 MW peaking power project (Gansu Province)
A key balancing resource supporting the Gansu–Shandong ultra-high-voltage (UHV) transmission corridor. The plant is helping to offset the intermittency of large-scale wind and solar generation. Annual benefits include electricity savings of over 32 million kWh and carbon reductions of nearly 32,000 metric tons.
Integrated wind–solar–thermal–storage CHP project in Yulin, Shaanxi Province
Designed to meet both power and district heating demand, this project delivers strong environmental performance, saving approximately 5 million cubic meters of water annually, reducing electricity consumption by nearly 10 million kWh, and cutting carbon emissions by about 10,000 metric tons per year.
Lingtai Power Plant (Gansu Province)
A million-kilowatt-class facility developed by Shandong Energy Group and a cornerstone project for China’s first UHV transmission scheme built around an integrated “wind–solar–thermal–storage” model. The plant saves more than 12 million cubic meters of water annually, reduces electricity consumption by over 36 million kWh, and cuts carbon emissions by more than 36,000 metric tons—supporting clean, efficient power delivery to eastern China.
Together, these projects show how SLG's advanced air-cooling solutions contribute to enable grid-scale power generation in water-stressed regions, strengthen power system resilience, and support the integration of renewable energy at scale.SLG is committed to ensuring energy security while promoting sustainable development.
