Zhongchu Guoneng Technology Co., Ltd. (ZCGN) has launched the world’s largest compressed air energy storage project in China. The $207.8 million energy storage plant has a capacity of 300 MW/1,800 MWh and uses an underground salt cavern.
Chinese developer ZCGN has completed construction of a 300 MW compressed air energy storage facility (CAES) in Yingcheng, China’s Hubei province.
The company said the storage facility is the largest CAES system in the world to date. Previously, the largest CAES facility was a 100 MW project started in October 2022 by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also in China’s Hebei province.
ZCGN said the new system consists of a multi-stage wide-load compressor and a high-load turbine expander, as well as high-efficiency supercritical heat exchanger technology and integrated control technology. It claimed the facility was 30% cheaper than the 100 MW project built by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics and said its overall efficiency is 72%.
The $207.8 million facility has an energy storage capacity of 300 MW/1,800 MWh and covers an area of approximately 100,000 m2. According to ZCGN, it is capable of continuously discharging power for up to six hours, ensuring power supply to between 200,000 and 300,000 local homes during periods of peak consumption.
The station uses an underground salt cave with wells to a depth of up to 1,000 meters. The cave has a gas storage capacity of more than 500,000 cubic meters.
The facility has an estimated annual electricity generation of 600 TWh and is expected to save approximately 189,000 tons of standard coal consumption. It will reportedly reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 490,000 tons per year.
The project’s investor has announced plans to provide various support services to generate revenue through participation in China’s electricity trading market. The project is expected to deliver an internal rate of return on capital of approximately 16.38%, with a payback period of approximately 7.1 years.
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It is expected to provide essential energy regulation functions to the Shandong provincial power grid, including peak shaving, frequency stabilization, phase shifting and standby power.
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