Solar power heats in-flight meals of Beijing passengers

According to a government-authorized website, solar power is now being used to heat the in-flight meals served for up to 30,000 passengers.

Building on a green system first deployed during 2008’s Beijing Summer Olympics, the solar technology currently produces 100 tonnes of hot water daily, sufficient to heat 18,000 in-flight meals. The new solar initiative is part of the Chinese government’s CNY200 million clean energy plan.

Li Zhen, Assistant Manager of Beijing Airport Inflight Kitchen, said that Beijing Airport is planning to enhance its solar power capacity. Li further informed that the airport invested CNY4 million in the green project that helps save 260,000 cubic meters of natural gas and CNY 830,000. The solar device is now used to heat the food for passengers flying with local and international airliners, including Turkish and Singapore Airlines.

However, Vice General Manager Yan Kai of Beijing Sunda Solar Energy Technology, the company responsible for the installation of the solar-based water technology, said that the system can only be operated from spring to autumn.

The green system is a remarkable application of solar energy, but it is certainly not the only project that Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform (BMCDR) is planning.  BMCDR also revealed earlier this week that it is eyeing to build a 20,000kW solar-based rooftop power generation project and a 50,000kW on-grid solar array by 2012.

The People’s Daily Online reported that Beijing will have a solar collector coverage of around 7,000 hectares by 2012. Meanwhile, the capital city’s solar energy capacity will total to 70 MW, with the power to be generated valued at AUD 3.17 billion.