On January 11, the construction of Daofu Pumped Water Storage power Station, the world's highest large-scale pumped storage power station, officially started in Daofu County, Sichuan province. With a designed annual generating capacity of 2.994 billion KWH, the hydropower station is the largest installed pumped storage project in Sichuan Province and a landmark project of the Yalong River water-scenery integrated base.

It is understood that Daofu pumped storage power station is a key implementation project during the 14th Five-Year Plan period of "Medium and long-term pumped Storage Development Plan (2021-2035)". The project is located in Shika Township, Daofu County, Garzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, with an initially planned installed capacity of 2.1 million kilowatts (6× 350,000 kilowatts). After completion, it will mainly undertake tasks such as peak regulation, valley filling, energy storage, frequency modulation and phase modulation in Sichuan's power system, and promote the development and utilization of new energy.

The power station has the characteristics of high cold, high altitude, high water head and high speed, high voltage, large capacity generator complex construction difficulty. After the research and demonstration of the participating parties, the project is being implemented in an orderly manner. The construction of Daofu pumped storage power station will strongly promote the technological innovation and development of pumped storage units and electrical equipment in the world.

Pumped storage is the most commonly used large-scale energy storage technology at present, mainly used in power system peak load and valley filling, frequency and phase regulation and emergency backup, with mature technology, high efficiency, large capacity, long-term energy storage and other advantages. During the off-peak period of electricity consumption, the use of excess energy such as scenery new energy to pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir for storage, which is equivalent to "charging" the "charging treasure", at this time the pumping and storage power station is the user of electric energy. In the peak hours of electricity consumption, the water is discharged from the upper reservoir to the lower reservoir, and the potential energy of the water is converted into electric energy to meet the electricity demand during the peak hours, which is the process of "charging treasure" discharge. At this time, the pumping and storage power station is a power plant.

The total investment of the Daofu pumped storage power station project is about 15.1 billion yuan, which can boost the GDP of Sichuan Province by 21.3 billion yuan during the construction period, and can promote about 5,000 jobs every year. At the same time, the project can drive the development and construction of surrounding photovoltaic resources, and it is expected that the new investment in new energy development will reach 24 billion yuan.

It is understood that as a core participant, PowerChina Chengdu Institute has prepared a high-quality pumped storage development plan for Sichuan Province; A series of pumped storage power plants have been designed and built inside and outside the province, including Lianghekou Project, the world's highest and largest hybrid pumped storage power plant, which is the main driving force and leading force for the development of pumped storage in China. Editor/Xu Shengpeng