China's Jinta molten salt energy tower stands as an "energy fortress" designed to help the country absorb exactly the kind of oil shock now rattling global markets with the tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, a new report detailed.
Located in Jiuquan, in China's northwestern Gansu province, the Jinta project sits in the Gobi Desert, where sun, land, and distance from dense population centers make large-scale energy experiments easier to deploy.
CNN reported that the Jinta multi-energy complementary molten salt tower station is the largest tower-type solar thermal plant among China's first batch of demonstration power station projects in deserts, Gobi, and barren lands commissioned in 2025. The plant uses more than 25,000 heliostats, or sun-tracking mirrors, to concentrate sunlight on a central receiver, where molten salt is heated above 550 degrees Celsius and later used to produce steam and electricity.
What makes the Jinta model especially relevant in a crisis is not just that it is solar, but that it stores heat. Traditional solar power fades with the sunset. Molten salt technology changes that by holding thermal energy for later release, allowing electricity generation after dark and helping smooth demand peaks.
For more than a decade, Xi Jinping has pushed a broad strategy aimed at reducing the country's exposure to imported energy and insulating the economy from "external shocks," especially supply disruptions and price spikes tied to conflict in places like the Middle East. The report says that the strategy has included a huge buildout of wind, solar, and hydropower, more domestic oil and gas drilling, stronger power-grid infrastructure, and agreements with foreign suppliers to diversify imports.
China Daily said the plant is expected to generate 1.45 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, while emphasizing its "24/7 clean power supply" potential through energy storage and peak-shaving functions. SolarPACES separately reported that another major clean-energy support project in Jinta County, now under construction, includes a 2,000 MWh thermal storage system designed for "wind-solar-storage-heat" integration and more stable industrial energy supply.
According to CNN, China's exports of green technology surged in the first quarter of 2026, when the conflict with Iran began. Electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and wind turbine goods went up 78%, 50%, and 45%. However, China remains deeply dependent on imported crude. The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University estimates China imported a record 11.6 million barrels per day in 2025 and that imported oil accounted for more than 70 percent of consumption, with more than 90 percent of imports arriving by sea.
Reuters reported that China imported about 5.4 million barrels per day of crude through the Strait of Hormuz in the first quarter of 2025, more than any other country. They also estimated that China's combined strategic and commercial inventories could replace Hormuz-linked crude imports for roughly seven months.
