China's power storage industry has experienced explosive growth since 2021, as a series of large-scale, high-technology pumped storage hydropower stations have been made ready or have already started operating. — China Daily
SHANGHAI: In late June, as a tunnel gate gradually closed, the upper reservoir of a pumped storage hydropower station in Zhejiang province began storing water for the first time. It is now ready to serve as a “superpower bank” for nearby regions.
The same day, construction officially began on a one million-kilowatt (kW) pumped storage hydropower project in Chongqing, the first of its kind amid the rocky limestone topography.
Three other pumped storage hydropower projects in Guangdong, Shanxi and Jiangsu provinces also received approval for construction in June.
All these developments signal the final approval for 100 million Kw of pumped storage hydropower capacity during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021 to 2025) period, bringing China a step closer to its decarbonisation goals.
The country’s power storage industry has experienced explosive growth since 2021, as a series of large-scale, high-technology pumped storage hydropower stations have been made ready or have already started operating.
Approved as well as commissioned capacities hit record highs last year, said the National Energy Administration (NEA).
Yangjiang Pumped Storage Hydropower Station with a 700m ultrahigh water head and a single unit capacity of 400,000 kW, and the Changlongshan Pumped Storage Hydropower Station with the highest water head in China (756m), have also begun operations.
Unlike conventional hydropower plants, pumped storage hydropower stations serve as both power generators and consumers.
Such facilities have two water reservoirs at different elevations.
They pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper level when there is excess power on the grid and release water to let it flow back downhill to generate power when there is greater demand for electricity.
This has earned pumped-storage hydropower stations the nickname “superpower banks”.
As massive electricity is difficult to store in other ways, the stations help ensure the safe and stable operation of the power system, especially after a large batch of intermittent, unstable new energies are used for power generation, experts said. — China Daily/ANN
