Xinjiang Bolsters Grid wiht Expanding Energy Storage Capacity, Including First Northwest Pumped Storage Station
URUMQI, Xinjiang – xinjiang is rapidly expanding its energy storage capabilities, adding 2.5333 million kilowatts/8.249 million kilowatt-hours of storage in the first half of the year, bringing its total to 12.0678 million kilowatt-hours/40.0223 million kilowatt-hours. This development, centered around a growing “power bank” cluster, is enhancing the controllability of green power in the region.
The cluster includes traditional pumped storage, alongside emerging technologies like lithium iron phosphate, all vanadium liquid flow, flywheel, and supercapacitors. The recently operational Fukang Pumped Storage Power Station, the first of its kind in xinjiang and Northwest china, exemplifies this strategy.Located near Urumqi, the station utilizes a 484-meter drop between the Shangshui Reservoir and a lower reservoir to generate electricity.
“like a ‘super power bank’, when the electricity is low, it pumps water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir to the upper reservoir to the peak load of the power grid, puts the water back to the lower reservoir to generate electricity,” explained Yang Hongtao, chairman of State Grid Xinyuan Xinjiang Fukang Pumped Storage co., Ltd.
Currently, Xinjiang boasts 11 independent energy storage power stations and 219 supporting stations. Utilizing a “trough charging and peak discharge” mechanism, these facilities released 570 million kilowatt-hours during peak electricity consumption in the first six months of the year.
This expansion builds upon Xinjiang’s growing renewable energy sector, evolving from early wind farms in Dabancheng to vast photovoltaic arrays in the Taklamakan Desert, and solidifying its role as a national energy resource strategic guarantee base.
(He Yong li Yanan)
