China builds the world's largest pumped storage power station to meet the annual electricity needs of 2.6 million households

The world's largest pumped storage power station with an installed capacity of 3.6GW has been completed, according to reports. The twelfth and final reversible turbine unit of the Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station in Hebei Province, north of Beijing, began commercial operation last Sunday. The facility is operated by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC).

"The Fengning 2 hydropower station will be a safe, reliable, environmentally friendly and ecologically harmonious high-quality project that will benefit Chinese society," State Grid Corporation of China said in a statement.

The project, which was originally scheduled to be completed in 2021, began construction in June 2013. In April 2014, Gezhouba Group was awarded the main construction contract for the power station, which will be built in two phases with a total capacity of 1,800MW and a total installed capacity of 3.6GW. Each phase includes the construction of six reversible pump-turbine units with a capacity of 300MW.

In 2017, ANDRITZ Hydro was awarded the contract to supply two variable speed generators for the Fengning 2 PSPP. The units have a rated capacity of 330 MVA in generator mode and 345 MVA in pump mode. AC excitation, speed governors, protection and computer control systems are also part of the contract.

According to the International Hydropower Association, China is a world leader in new hydropower development. In 2023 alone, the country commissioned 6.7GW of capacity, including more than 6.2GW of pumped storage. China plans to expand pumped storage capacity to 80GW by 2027 and total hydropower capacity to 120GW by 2030.

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Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station is located in Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Chengde City, Hebei Province, 180 kilometers south of Beijing and 170 kilometers southeast of Chengde City. The power supply range of the power station is the Beijing-Tianjin and northern Hebei power grids. After the completion of the power station, it will work together with the pumped storage power stations and other peak-shaving power sources built in advance such as the Ming Tombs to solve the problem of insufficient peak-shaving capacity of the Beijing-Tianjin and northern Hebei power grids, including regulating wind power loads. At the same time, according to the needs of the power grid, the power station can also undertake tasks such as system frequency regulation, phase regulation, load standby and emergency standby to maintain the safe and stable operation of the power grid.

At 9:38 on May 21, 2021, the upper reservoir of Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station in Hebei Province began to store water, marking the transition of the project from the construction phase to the preparation phase for water storage and power generation. On December 30, the first two units (1# and 10#) of Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station were officially put into operation and connected to the Zhangbei Flexible DC Grid.

As of December 2023, 10 units of the power station have been put into operation. The remaining two units will also be put into operation in 2024. The total installed capacity of the 12 units installed in the power station is 3.6 million kilowatts, making it the world's largest pumped-storage power station in terms of installed capacity. In addition, the 12 units of the power station have a full utilization of 10.8 hours, making it the only pumped-storage power station in North China with weekly regulation performance, and the world's largest energy storage capacity.

On August 11, 2024, Unit 12 of State Grid Xinyuan's Hebei Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station was officially put into operation to generate electricity, filling the gap in the application of large-scale variable-speed pumped storage units in China.

After the completion of the power station, it will strongly support the strategy of "importing electricity from outside Hebei", alleviate the problem of wind and solar power abandonment in the "Three Norths" region, better absorb cross-regional clean energy, and undertake peak regulation, frequency regulation, phase regulation, energy storage, system standby and black start tasks in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei power grid, generating important economic, social and environmental benefits.

After all 12 units are put into operation, they can consume 8.8 billion kWh of excess electricity each year and generate 6.612 billion kWh of electricity annually, which can meet the annual electricity needs of 2.6 million households, save 480,800 tons of standard coal annually, and reduce carbon emissions by 1.2 million tons, which is equivalent to afforestation of more than 240,000 mu.

(Global Energy Storage Network, New Energy Network Comprehensive)