When the morning mist of the Qingjiang River spreads over the mountains of Jinguoping Township, a super electric granary is quietly brewing in the hinterland of western Hubei. Hubei Energy and Enshi Prefecture have recently deepened their cooperation, using clean energy as a pen to outline a green landscape of coordinated development of scenery, water and storage in the mountains and waters of Wuling Mountain, turning dormant resources into the surging energy of the Central China Power Grid.

Recently, Hubei Energy signed a deepening cooperation agreement with the Enshi Prefecture government, finalizing the layout of clean energy and upstream and downstream industrial chain projects in Enshi Prefecture during the 15th Five Year Plan period, with a total investment of about 8 billion yuan, focusing on building wind power, photovoltaic, hydropower, energy storage and comprehensive energy supporting projects.

The investment list hides details

The detailed list of projects signed this time includes Linxi River hydropower, million kilowatt level new energy, distributed photovoltaics, and zero carbon parks, but the 8 billion yuan investment plan does not include new projects related to pumped storage power stations. In fact, Enshi Prefecture is the region with the most abundant pumped storage resources in western Hubei, and its resource endowment is unique. There are three pumped storage projects included in the national key implementation plan and 21 reserve projects in the whole state, with a total installed capacity of over 20 million kilowatts. Among them, Hubei Energy has won the largest national planning project, the Baodong Taolixi Pumped Storage Power Station, and has access to core high-quality resources.

The Taoli Creek project is poised to take off

On September 2, 2021, the Badong County Government signed a contract with Hubei Energy Group to officially implement the Badong Taolixi Pumped Storage Power Station project. The total investment of this project exceeds 10 billion yuan, with an installed capacity of 1.8 million kilowatts. It is located in Jinguoping Township, Badong County, 2 kilometers upstream of the Qingjiang Shuibuya Power Station. It is planned to install 6 300000 kilowatt units, and the annual output value after completion can reach more than 1.2 billion yuan.

At present, the preliminary work of the project is steadily progressing. According to the investment promotion materials in February 2026, the short-term plan for the project is to complete feasibility studies and various special report approvals from 2026 to 2027, obtain project approval, and initiate core equipment bidding and construction preparation work. The long-term plan is to complete and put into operation from 2028 to 2035, continuously creating stable output value. At present, the preliminary approval work is progressing in an orderly manner.

Layout and complete layout of pumped storage

The Taolixi Pumped Storage Power Station is not a single layout of Hubei Energy. As a comprehensive energy platform under the Three Gorges Group, the company has established a comprehensive pumped storage project matrix throughout Hubei, forming a multi-point layout pattern. Among them, the main construction of the Luotian Pingyuan Pumped Storage Power Station will start in 2023, the Changyang Qingjiang Pumped Storage Power Station will start in 2024, and the Nanzhang Zhangjiaping Pumped Storage Power Station will start in 2025. The three major ongoing projects are expected to be put into operation from 2027 to 2030. Keywords: Hubei, clean energy, pumped storage

Relying on the development model of starting construction, approval, and reserve promotion, the Taolixi project has become an important reserve support for Hubei's energy pumping and storage map, rather than a single point test. The project, with a super large installed capacity of 1.8 million kilowatts, will be put into operation in the later stage of the 15th Five Year Plan period. It will form a capacity relay with the three major projects of Luotian, Changyang, and Nanzhang, continuously consolidating the core competitive advantage of the enterprise in the field of peak shaving and frequency regulation of power in Central China, and helping to stabilize and upgrade the regional energy system.Editor/Gong Ziwei