Northwest China emerges as leader in energy storage facilities

New types of energy storage facilities are rapidly advancing in Northwest China, establishing the region as the nation's leader in this sector, official data showed recently.

Latest data from the National Energy Administration revealed that in the first half of the year, over 50 percent of the country's new types of energy storage capacity was installed in the Northwest and North China regions, with the Northwest region alone accounting for 27.3 percent, the highest nationwide.

The massive installation was to ensure the stable integration of power generated from intermittent new energy sources, as they could cause turbulence in power loads due to various sunlight or wind levels, against the backdrop of the fast expansion of new energy bases in Northwest China. In the past, most grids were optimized for the transmission of steady volumes of power derived from fossil fuels, whose amount for use can be managed.

An example is a major energy storage facility that began operations in the Hongsibao district of Wuzhong city, Ningxia Hui autonomous region. This facility, acting as a large-scale "power bank," can store 200,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per charge and discharge around 730 million kilowatt-hours annually, effectively managing the electricity output of over 20 wind and solar power stations in the area. Interconnected with the Wuzhong power grid via a 110 kilovolt power transmission line, the station is overseen by the State Grid Wuzhong Power Supply Co for power-to-grid integration.

The State Grid Wuzhong Power Supply Co is also utilizing the station's peak-shifting capabilities to alleviate grid pressure and address the challenges of variable power generation from renewable sources, it said.