The clean energy revolution will require large amounts of energy storage to protect against the intermittent energy provided by the sun and wind. According to the Asia Times, China plans to rely heavily on compressed air energy storage (CAES), which will account for almost a quarter of all energy storage in the country by 2030.
Thus, after several years of development by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it is ready to start commercial operation in the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou by connecting the world’s first advanced 100 MW CAES system to the grid. By calling it “state-of-the-art”, the Academy distinguishes it from the Mackintosh Station, a 110 MW CAES facility in Alabama that has been operating since 1991 and burns stored air with natural gas for energy and therefore does not have a “green” energy storage solution. . .
The new facility in Zhangjiakou does not use fossil fuels. According to the China Energy Storage Alliance, the new plant can store and release up to 400 MWh at a design system efficiency of 70.4% (existing compressed air systems are only 40-52% efficient and even two large Hydrostor CAES plants are planned to be open). (In California, it has only 60% efficiency in 2026.)
The Chinese Academy of Sciences claims that the Zhangjiakou station is able to supply the local electricity grid with more than 132 GWh of electricity per year, with the highest consumption of up to 60,000 households.
Source: Ferra
