Beijing to get solar thermal power

China will begin constructing Asia's first 1.5-megawatt solar thermal power station in suburban Beijing next month.

Designed by the China Academy of Sciences, the station is expected to cost 100 million yuan and is likely to power at least 30,000 homes when it starts operating in 2010, Wang Zhifeng, chief designer of the plant told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

The plant, covering an area of 13 hectares, would get funding from the Ministry of Science, the Beijing municipal government and the academy.