World’s largest pumped-hydro storage power station starts operations in north China

The Fengning pumped storage power station in north China’s Hebei Province, which will provide green electricity to the Beijing Winter Olympics, started operations on 31 December 2021.

To achieve carbon emission reduction, China is developing new sources of energy, such as wind and solar, and adjusting the energy structure are among the priorities.

China is putting efforts to expand its pumped hydro energy storage over the next decade, aiming to have 62 gigawatts of storage facilities operating by 2025, and 120 gigawatts by 2030, according to a plan published by the National Energy Administration.

The hydropower station is designed to generate over 6.6 billion kilowatt-hours of energy per year, and will provide green electricity to the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The pumped-hydro station “can help save 480,000 tonnes of coal and reduce 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year, … [and] … It will help make the Olympics 100-percent the greenest ever in history” said Wu Peizhi, deputy general manager of the power station.

With an installed capacity of 3.6 million kilowatts, it is the world’s largest among pumped hydro power stations. The plant is located in Fengning County of the province and directly accesses to the Zhangbei flexible direct current (DC) power grid as an important regulating power supply, which will greatly increase the proportion of clean energy consumption in north China.

The power station has two reservoirs each with a storage capacity of over 40 million cubic meters respectively on a mountain and at the foot of the the mountain. It pumps water from the lower reservoir downhill to the upper reservoir for storing excess power generated by wind and solar energies. When a peak power demand comes, the reservoir will release the stored water downhill to generate power.

Not only for the Olympic Games, the power station is of great significance for China’s “dual carbon” goals, which refer to the country’s carbon emission objectives — achieving a peak in carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

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Built by China, 31 Dec 2021 (Video)

CGTN, 30 Dec 2021. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-12-30/-World-s-largest-pumped-storage-power-station-starts-operations-16pqAT8XCj6/index.html