In line with the planned schedule, all units of the Jinzhai pumped storage power plant have now been successfully connected to grid and completed 15 days of trial operation, by this moment, all units are under commercial operation. Under the contract signed in 2017, GE Hydro Solutions was selected by Anhui Jinzhai Pumped Storage Power Co., Ltd, one of the divisions of State Grid Xin Yuan, to supply four new 300 MW pumped storage turbines, generator-motors, and the balance of plant equipment for the Anhui Jinzhai pumped storage power plant located in the Jinzhai County, Anhui Province, China. The first two units were connected to the grid in October 2022.

The 1.2 GW Jinzhai hydro power plant project will play a key role in this journey to a stronger energy mix in the country. The project annual generating capacity represents about 1.4 times the annual household electricity consumption in Jinzhai. Acting as a sustainable giant energy storage system, the Jinzhai pumped storage station will save up to 120 000 tpy of coal and reduce 240 000 tpy of carbon dioxide emissions.

Pascal Radue, President and CEO, GE Hydro Solutions, said: “Pumped storage is the largest source of energy storage that exists today, which can help stabilise the grid with the integration of wind and solar power. The Jinzhai pumped storage project now fully operational will provide for a huge amount of clean energy to China and will help stabilise the grid to ultimately help integrate more renewable energies in a reliable way. And the beauty of hydropower projects is that it is set to be operational for the very long term, about 80 years, meaning that the project will provide affordable energy for several generations to come.”

China aims to build more than 200 pumped storage stations with a combined capacity of 270 GW by 2025 (Source: Bloomberg), to help solve grid stability challenge and integrate more renewable energy into the Chinese grid.

Pumped storage units help stabiliae the grid by acting act as giant batteries: water is pumped from the lower to the upper reservoir in times of surplus energy and, in times of demand, water from the upper reservoir is released, generating electricity as the water passes through the turbine.

This project adds up to the +12 GW of pumped storage solutions GE has delivered in China, which represent more than 25% of the installed base in the country. In the world, more than 30% of hydro storage plants are equipped with GE technology.