Recently, the key project of the national pumped storage plan - Yunnan Xichou Pumped Storage Power Station - officially started construction. This is the first large-scale pumped storage project in southern Yunnan, which will explore a new paradigm for the development of pumped storage projects in rocky desertification areas and provide strong support for the construction of a new power system.

The newly started Xichou Pumped Storage Power Station is located in Xichou County, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, with an installed capacity of 1.2 million kilowatts and a total investment of approximately 8 billion yuan. The power station will install four 300000 kilowatt units, which can convert 1.16 million cubic meters of clean water energy into 1.2 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity per hour during peak electricity consumption. The annual consumption of clean energy can meet the electricity needs of 980000 users and residents.

According to Zhou Gang, Deputy General Manager of the Owner Project Department of Yunnan Xichou Pumped Storage Project, the power station is expected to be fully completed and put into operation in the early stage of the 16th Five Year Plan. By then, it will be able to consume 2.16 billion kilowatt hours of clean energy annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 1.9 million tons. A pumped storage power station has two reservoirs, one above and one below. During low load periods, the power system uses pumped storage to store electricity, and during peak load periods, it releases water to generate electricity. This can promote the stable integration of fluctuating and intermittent new energy into the power grid. The completion of Xichou pumped storage will provide strong support for the stable integration of 8 million kilowatts of wind and photovoltaic power into the power grid in southern Yunnan.

This article is reprinted from: Yunnan Provincial Energy Bureau     Editor/Gao Xue