The first unit of the Qingyuan Pumped Storage Power Station, the largest of its kind in Northeast China, will be put into operation next month and will play an important role in optimizing the electric power network in the region.

Costing CNY10.9 billion (USD1.5 billion), the station is located in Fushun, northeastern Liaoning province and has a designed capacity of 3 billion kilowatt hours a year. It is equipped with six generators, each with a capacity of 300,000 KW.

Once fully up and running in March 2025, the power plant will reduce coal consumption by 158,000 tons a year. This will cut greenhouse emissions by 375,000 tons a year and sulfur dioxide emissions by 7,000 tons.

Pumped storage plants usually consist of two reservoirs at different heights. Water is pumped to the lower one from the higher one during off-peak hours when there is surplus electricity and water is discharged from the upper reservoir to generate electricity during peak demand. The stations help to balance loads and can be used to steady the fluctuating output of intermittent energy sources, such as renewable energy.

China had built 45.79 million KW of pumped storage power stations as of the end of last year, the most in the world. More than 10 provinces including Guangdong, Henan, Jilin, Guizhou and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have set goals for installed capacity of pumped storage power stations as part of their carbon peaking plans.