On the open mountains of Lamazhao Township in Emin County, construction vehicles are neatly arranged. On October 13, 2026, the Emin Pumped Storage Power Station in Xinjiang officially started construction here, marking the beginning of the construction of the first million kilowatt level pumped storage benchmark project in northern Xinjiang. More than 100 leaders from the State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Water Resources Department, and Forestry and Grassland Bureau of the autonomous region, as well as major leaders from Tacheng, Emin, and Tori counties and representatives from various participating units, jointly participated in the groundbreaking ceremony to witness the key starting point of this Northwest energy regulation hub.

The landing of a million kilowatt level peak shaving hub in northern Xinjiang

This project has been included in the national key plan for pumped storage in the medium and long term. It is a key layout project of the Xinjiang power system, with a total investment of 10.5 billion yuan and a construction period of 72 months. The main body of the power station consists of core buildings such as an upper reservoir, a lower reservoir, a water transmission system, an underground factory building, and a ground switch station. The total installed capacity is 1400 MW, equipped with 4 sets of vertical shaft single-stage mixed flow reversible water turbine generators with a single capacity of 350 MW. It is a daily regulated pumped storage power station with a continuous full load of 6 hours.

The annual designed power generation of the power station is 1.983 billion kilowatt hours, and the annual pumping power consumption is 2.644 billion kilowatt hours. By 2026, the proportion of wind, solar, and photovoltaic installed capacity in the Xinjiang power grid has exceeded 48%. The volatility of new energy output places extremely high demands on the system's peak shaving ability. The landing of this pumped storage power station will provide stable high-capacity regulation capabilities for the northern Xinjiang power grid.

Fill the core gap of large-scale energy storage in northern Xinjiang

Previously, there were no million kilowatt level pumped storage projects in the northern Xinjiang region, and a large amount of surplus wind and photovoltaic power could not achieve efficient spatial and temporal transfer, resulting in a long-term abandonment rate higher than the average level in Xinjiang. After the project is put into operation, it will significantly enhance the flexible regulation capability of the North Xinjiang power grid, converting surplus new energy electricity at night into stable electricity output during peak hours, effectively smoothing out fluctuations in new energy output.

The construction of the flood discharge and sand removal tunnel, access tunnel, ventilation and safety tunnel, and ancillary works supporting the project is scheduled to officially start on November 15, 2026, with a total construction period of 837 calendar days. In the first three quarters of 2026, the under construction scale of pumped storage in Xinjiang has reached 8.2 million kilowatts. The commencement of the Emin project further consolidates Xinjiang's position as the core area of new energy storage construction in the country. Keywords: New Energy News, Pumped Storage Energy

The engineering equipment between the mountains is about to start operating, and in the next six years, a super energy storage hub will emerge on this mountainous area, providing the most solid peak shaving support for the stable operation of large-scale new energy bases in northern Xinjiang.Editor/Cheng Liting