China has launched the operation of the world's largest compressed air energy storage power station

The world's largest compressed air energy storage power station has been put into operation in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, China. This marks an important step for China in expanding its energy storage capacity and supporting the green transformation.

According to reports from Shanghai Securities News and Bloomberg, on Monday (January 26th), Harbin Electric Group Co., Ltd. announced that the No. 2 unit of the Guoxin Su-Yan Huai'an Salt Cave Compressed Air Energy Storage Demonstration Project was successfully connected to the grid for the first time, and simultaneously achieved full-load power generation. This marks the full commissioning of the world's largest compressed air energy storage power station.

This power generation project consists of two sets of 300-megawatt non-reignite compressed air energy storage units, with an energy storage capacity of 2,400 megawatt-hours. After commissioning, the annual power generation capacity can meet the annual electricity demand of 600,000 households.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance stated that such facilities are currently one of the most cost-effective long-term energy storage solutions. Their operating principle is to compress air at night and inject it into underground caverns, and then release the compressed air during the day to drive turbines and generate electricity.

It is reported that with the rapid expansion of China's renewable energy installation capacity, the country's energy storage industry has witnessed an explosive growth in recent years. The government has set a target to increase the national installed capacity of new energy storage to over 180 gigawatts by the end of 2027. This will promote the vigorous development of alternative energy storage technologies such as battery storage and compressed air storage.