The Fengning pumped storage plant, the world’s largest plant of its kind, became fully operational with the commissioning of the last variable speed unit on December 31. The plant, located in Fengning County, Hebei Province, near Beijing and Tianjin, is a key part of China’s renewable energy infrastructure, supporting a nearby 10 GW wind and solar power base in nearby Zhangjiakou.
The project, developed by State Grid Xinyuan Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the State Grid Corporation of China, represents a total investment of CNY 19.24 billion ($2.6 billion). Construction started in May 2013 and took more than eleven years. The plant has 12 reversible pump turbine units, each with a capacity of 300 MW, including two variable speed units, bringing the total installed capacity to 3.6 GW. It is designed to generate 6.61 TWh annually while consuming 8.71 TWh of electricity for pumping, and is connected to the North China power grid via four 500 kV transmission lines.
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