The power station, with a 300MW system, is claimed to be the largest compressed air energy storage power station in the world, with highest efficiency and lowest unit cost as well.
Now, China is expected to accelerate the development of its far less prevalent compressed air energy storage (CAES) projects to optimize its power grid performance and move in a greener direction.
A compressed air energy storage (CAES) project in Hubei, China, has come online, with 300MW/1,500MWh of capacity. The 5-hour duration project, called Hubei Yingchang, was built in two years with a total investment of CNY1.95 billion (US$270 million) and uses abandoned salt mines in the Yingcheng area of Hubei, China’s sixth-most populous province.
[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] China has made breakthroughs on compressed air energy storage, as the world's largest of such power station has achieved its first grid connection and power generation in China's Shandong province.
The $207.8 million energy storage power station has a capacity of 300 MW/1,800 MWh and uses an underground salt cave. Chinese developer ZCGN has completed the construction of a 300 MW compressed air energy storage (CAES) facility in Feicheng, China's Shandong province. The company said the storage plant is the world's largest CAES system to date.
Of all the types of energy storage in China, CAES will represent 10% by 2025 and then surge to 23% by 2030, if all goes to plan. The China Industrial Association of Power Sources (CIAPS) said in an April report that China’s total energy storage capacity topped the world at 43.44 GW at the end of 2021.