November 1, 2025, with the first shot of rock excavation in the upper reservoir, construction equipment such as down the hole drills and excavators entered the site one after another. The main project of Qinghai Wanrang Pumped Storage Power Station officially started, marking a new stage of project construction.

The Qinghai Warang Pumped Storage Power Station is located in Guinan County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and is currently the largest installed pumped storage power station in western China. The preliminary construction of the project will begin in August 2023, with a total investment of 15.94 billion yuan, a total installed capacity of 2.8 million kilowatts, and the installation of 8 reversible units with a single capacity of 350000 kilowatts. The designed annual power generation is 3.36 billion kilowatt hours, and the annual utilization hours are 1200 hours.

The main project of the power station consists of an upper reservoir, a lower reservoir inlet and outlet, a water transmission system, and an underground powerhouse, which is the core infrastructure for achieving the functions of "pumped storage and peak power generation". Among them, the upper reservoir is located on the Warang platform on the right bank of the existing Laxiwa power station reservoir area, using a dam construction method of "three sided filling and one sided excavation", similar to the "upstream energy storage reservoir" of the power station, providing a solid foundation for energy storage. The lower reservoir relies on the existing Laxiwa Reservoir to provide sufficient potential energy for power generation through the natural water level difference formed with the upper reservoir. The water supply system with a total length of 2350.1 meters is like a "water flow artery" connecting two major reservoirs, ensuring efficient water transportation. The underground powerhouse serves as the "energy conversion chamber" of the power station, with a length of 319 meters, a width of nearly 25.5 meters, and a height of 58.2 meters, equivalent to the height of a 20 story building.

The power station will pump the water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir for storage when there is surplus electricity, and then use the water flow to drive the units to generate electricity during peak hours, realizing the "peak shaving and valley filling" of power supply, playing the functions of frequency and phase modulation, emergency backup, and black start, and helping the smooth operation of the power grid, "said Li Haifeng, Chairman of Qinghai Wanrang Pumped Storage Co., Ltd.

It is reported that the total construction period of Qinghai Wanrang Pumped Storage Power Station is about 8 years. The first unit is planned to be commissioned and put into operation in 2030, and all units will be connected to the grid for power generation by the end of 2031. After the completion of the power station, it will significantly enhance the stability and new energy development and utilization capacity of Qinghai and Northwest power grids, accumulate experience for the construction of pumped storage projects in the Yellow River Basin, and play an important role in promoting the sustainable development of the local economy and society.

As a key energy project during the 14th Five Year Plan period of the country, the construction of Qinghai Wanrang Pumped Storage Power Station not only focuses on energy security, but also deeply conforms to the concept of green development. The project site fully utilizes the terrain advantages of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and the upper and lower reservoirs rely on natural landforms and the layout of existing water conservancy facilities, reducing disturbance to the surrounding native ecology; During the construction process, the ecological protection plan will be strictly implemented, and technical measures such as vegetation restoration, soil and water conservation, and sewage treatment and recycling will be adopted for key links such as regional grassland ecology and water source protection, to achieve coordinated promotion of engineering construction and ecological protection.

From the perspective of regional development, the construction of the power station will directly drive local labor employment, creating over 2000 temporary job opportunities. At the same time, it will stimulate the development of local procurement, transportation, accommodation and other supporting industries for building materials such as cement and steel, bringing significant economic and social benefits to Guinan County and surrounding areas. The project will also simultaneously improve regional transportation, water supply, power supply and other infrastructure, laying the foundation for the subsequent landing of the clean energy industry cluster.

At the level of energy strategy, after completion, the power station will form a linkage with new energy bases such as Qinghai Hainan and Haixi, effectively solving the pain points of unstable output and mismatch between power generation periods and peak electricity consumption of new energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaics. According to calculations, the power station can consume approximately 4.48 billion kilowatt hours of new energy annually, reduce coal consumption by approximately 1.344 million tons, and lower carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 3.672 million tons. It plays a crucial role in supporting the construction of a new integrated power system for "source grid load storage" in the Northwest Power Grid and helping to achieve the "dual carbon" goals.Editor/Bian Wenjun