China’s Top Utility Completes World’s Biggest Pumped Hydro Plant
August 14th, 2024

Via Bloomberg, a report on China’s advances in pumped hydro:

  • Fengning station in Hebei province fully operational on Sunday
  • Nation seeking to expand capacity to 120 gigawatts by 2030

State Grid Corp. of China has completed the world’s biggest pumped hydro plant as the nation ramps up its green energy capabilities.

The ast of 12 units at the Fengning plant started commercial operations on Sunday, the official China Energy News reported. Two units have variable-speed technology — the first of its kind in the country — which allows the station to adjust to power grid loads at a faster pace, according to the report.

The 19 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) plant in Hebei province has a capacity of 3.6 gigawatts and was a flagship project designed to supply power to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Fengning surpasses the Bath County project in the US as the world’s largest pumped hydro station.

During times of excess power, pumps are used to push water to reservoirs uphill. When more energy is required, gravity pulls the water back down through a turbine that generates electricity.

China is seeking to expand its pumped hydro capacity to 120 gigawatts by 2030, according to the National Energy Administration. The country had 55 gigawatts of installed capacity by June, NEA data show.

Energy storage will play a pivotal role in China’s green transition, helping spread intermittent wind and solar generation around the clock. State Grid and China Southern Power Grid Co. dominate investment in the sector.


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About This Blog And Its Author
As the scarcity of water and energy continues to grow, the linkage between these two critical resources will become more defined and even more acute in the months ahead.  This blog is committed to analyzing and referencing articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between water and energy -- The Watergy Nexus -- and will endeavor to provide a central clearinghouse for insightful articles and comments for all to consider.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy.  Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation.  He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”