State Grid of China switches on
world’s largest pumped-hydro station
The Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station.
Image: State Grid Corp of China
Located in China’s Hebei province, the 3.6GW facility consists of 12
reversible pump generating sets with a capacity of 300MW each and has
a power generation capacity from storage of 6.612 billion kWh.
The
State Grid Corporation of China, which is China’s largest
state-owned grid operator and power utility, has commissioned, last
week, the
3.6GW Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station, a pumped-storage
hydroelectric power station located in Hebei province.
The construction of the $1.87 billion
project, which was implemented in two 1.8GW phases, was started by
engineering company China Gezhouba Group Company Limited in 2014.
The facility consists of 12 reversible
pump generating sets with a capacity of 300MW each and has a power
generation capacity from storage of 6.612 billion kWh. It is connected
to the Zhangbei VSC-HVDC power grid and the North China 500kV power
grid, State Grid said in a statement.
The core of the Fengning Pumped Storage
Power Station.
Image: State Grid Corp of China
According to the company, the
pumped-hydro station will operate as a peaking power plant for the
safe and stable operation of the grid by balancing the intermittent
power supply from large wind and solar parks located in northern Hebei
and Inner Mongolia.
State Grid chairman, Xin Baoan, stressed
this is the first time in China that a pumped-hydro storage plant has
been connected to a flexible DC network.
According to the National Energy
Administration, China is targeting 62GW of operational pumped-hydro
facilities by 2025 and 120GW by 2030. Currently, it has 30.3GW of
operational pumped-hydro stations, according to the International
Renewable Energy Agency.
*The article was amended on January 5
to reflect that 6.612 billion kWh is the facility's power generation
capacity from storage, and not its storage capacity, as we previously
reported.
