Vote for Outstanding Contribution to Energy Storage Award!

Energy Storage Awards, 21 November 2024, Hilton London Bankside

China: Largest pumped hydro energy storage plant in the world fully operational

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

The 12th and final turbine unit of a pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant in Hebei, China, has been put into full operation, making it the largest operational system in the world.

The 3.6GW Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station is located on the Luanhe River in Chengde City, Hebei Province, and is the largest PHES plant by installed capacity, state-owned outlet China Energy News said. The last units have completed trial operations and gone into full operation to generate electricity.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The PHES plant comprises 10 fixed-speed units and two variable-speed units, all 12 of which have a power rating of 300MW. The variable-speed units are the first in China, and enhance the flexibility of the PHES to adapt to grid load and stability requirements.

It was reported two years ago that the project with all 12 units had been completed but updates since appear to contradict that.

For example, Austria-headquartered technology provider Andritz provided a variable speed unit for the plant and gave the following timeline:

  • 15 March 2023: Stator lifted into pit
  • 4 July 2023: Rotor lifted into pit
  • Mid-October 2023: The main installation work completed
  • Early November 2023: Dry commissioning completed
  • 10 November 2023: Wet commissioning officially commenced
  • 27 November 2023: First run of the unit
  • 10 December 2023: First synchronisation test in turbine mode completed

Andritz said that the project saw it take a much greater role in whole power plant equipment commissioning than it had ever done previously. The company is working on several other projects in China too, as well as as in Turkey, Brazil and Scotland (with the Cruachan plant, covered by our sister site Solar Power Portal).

At 3.6GW the Fengning plant is larger than what is widely reported to be the largest existing PHES plant in the world, the Bath County plant in Virginia, US, which has a power rating of 3,003MW.

Larger projects are underway elsewhere, including the 5GW Pioneer-Burdekin project in Queensland, Australia. The Queensland government just announced that 5 kilometres of core samples have been collected and solid granite will now be confirmed structurally through the site.

China brought 6.7GW of hydropower capacity into service last year according to the International Hydropower Association, of which 6.2GW was PHES. It intends to reach 80GW of PHES by 2027 and a total hydropower capacity of up to 120GW by 2030.

Read Next

September 3, 2024
State-owned utility and power generator HSE is targeting 800MW of flexibility assets across Slovenia by 2035, including pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) and battery energy storage systems (BESS).
August 19, 2024
A new research centre ‘uniquely equipped’ to evaluate energy storage technologies has opened at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington, US.
August 16, 2024
US firm Natron Energy has announced plans for a sodium-ion gigafactory in North Carolina, while two Chinese firms have firmed up their projects, all-in-all totalling over 30GWh of annual sodium-ion production capacity.
August 15, 2024
Chile utility Colbun has faced a setback with its 800MW pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) project, after its environmental impact assessment (EIA) process was terminated early having been deemed to have not provided enough information.
August 9, 2024
Research firm Wood Mackenzie has released its latest global battery energy storage system BESS integrator report, for 2023, showing the market became more competitive with a smaller share by the top five.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter