In August 2025, a consortium consisting of China Water Resources and Hydropower 11th Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. and Eighth Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. successfully won the bid for the core project of Xinjiang Burqin Pumped Storage Power Station with a total amount of nearly 1.29 billion yuan, at a price of 1.2887 billion yuan. The overall investment scale of this project reaches 11.43 billion yuan, with a total installed capacity of 1.4 million kilowatts, making it the largest single pumped storage power station in Xinjiang currently.

This bid has ended the two month bid reversal controversy for the project. In June 2025, China Hydropower 14th Bureau won the bid for the same project for 1.29 billion yuan, but voluntarily announced its withdrawal of bid qualification before the contract was signed, which has attracted widespread attention in the industry. The Burqin Power Station is located in a high-altitude and high-altitude area with extreme winter temperatures as low as minus 30-40 degrees Celsius. Special materials, processes, and insulation measures are required for construction, resulting in costs that are 20% to 30% higher than those in conventional areas. The industry generally believes that the original winning bidder chose to withdraw due to excessive cost pressure and high operational risks.

In the second bidding process, the top three candidates had a very small price difference: the consortium of Hydropower 11th Bureau and 8th Bureau quoted 1.2887 billion yuan, Hydropower 6th Bureau quoted 1.28975 billion yuan, and Gezhouba Group consortium quoted 1.28876 billion yuan, with a difference of only about 100000 yuan between the highest and lowest. This phenomenon indicates that the main construction units have become more consistent in their judgment of project costs in high-altitude environments, and the vicious low price competition trend is changing.

It is worth mentioning that the winning bidder, Hydroelectric 11th Bureau, had previously participated in the preliminary construction of the project - a consortium formed by it and Hydroelectric 5th Bureau won the bid for the upper and lower reservoir projects for 1.156 billion yuan at an earlier stage. As the leading force in China's pumped storage field, China Power Construction Group's engineering bureau has undertaken the majority of pumped storage power station construction tasks in the country for many years. However, in the traditional "low price bidding" model, enterprises often face the problem of difficulty in covering actual costs with the winning bid price, especially in high difficulty projects where operational risks are significantly exacerbated.

The turning point of the winning bid for the Burqin project reflects that China's pumped storage industry is gradually shifting from scale expansion to a new stage that emphasizes both efficiency and safety. Enterprises pay more attention to cost control and risk warning, and the owner units, China National Nuclear Corporation and Xinhua Hydropower, also give more trust to cooperative units and are willing to pay corresponding prices for reasonable costs. This change marks that the industry is entering a more rational and sustainable development track.

The project plans to put the first unit into operation by 2030 and achieve full grid connected power generation by 2031. The joint venture of China Power Construction Corporation took over the project with a more cost-effective quotation, which not only ensured the smooth progress of major projects, but also set a benchmark for establishing a healthy, fair, and rational market environment for China's pumped storage industry. (This article is from the official website www.seetao.com of Jian Dao. Reproduction without permission is prohibited, otherwise it will be prosecuted. Please indicate Jian Dao website+original link when reprinting.) Jian Dao website infrastructure engineering column editor/Yang Beihua