China’s giant Gobi solar plant runs after dark on salt, not batteries

China has switched on the world's largest solar plant to combine ordinary panels with concentrated solar power, a setup that stores heat instead of electricity. The Hami complex in the Gobi Desert pairs 900 megawatts of standard solar panels with a 100-megawatt unit that uses mirrors to heat molten salt to over 1,000°F. That stored heat can run a turbine for up to eight hours after sunset, so part of the plant keeps producing power well into the evening without any batteries. It's worth noting that the after-dark output comes from the 100-megawatt thermal section, not the full gigawatt of panels.

The project cost about $480 million to build and, at full capacity, is projected to generate enough electricity yearly for roughly 830,000 households while cutting significant carbon emissions. China plans to expand this site and is already building a second, larger hybrid plant nearby using the same idea.

None of this changes what's available to homeowners today. This is a utility-scale demonstration project, not a home technology, and the story itself flags a real open question: molten-salt storage has historically cost more per unit of power than pairing solar panels with lithium batteries, and battery prices keep falling. So this is a technology to watch rather than something that affects rooftop solar or battery choices for your own house right now.