China’s Three Gorges renewables site to include 5 GWh of energy storage

China’s state-owned Three Gorges Energy has announced plans to invest in a massive integrated renewable energy base in the Taklamakan Desert, in the country’s Xinjiang region.

Total investment for the project has been projected at approximately CNY 71.8 billion ($10 billion). The site will include 5 GWh of electrochemical energy storage capacity alongside 8.5 GW of solar, 4 GW of wind, and 3.96 GW of coal-fired power. The latter, described as “ultra-supercritical” technology, as it offers higher efficiency than conventional coal power plants, will be spread across six 660 MW sites.

Various Three Gorges businesses will contribute registered capital of around CNY 18 billion to the project with the remaining 75% of costs to come from loans and financial leasing.

An announcement about the project said around 36 TWh per year, generated at the site, will be transmitted to Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality via under-construction ultra-high voltage direct current lines.

With a projected three- to four-year construction period, the progress of the storage and clean energy units will depend on development of the coal plants and transmission lines, Three Gorges said.

The project is also expected to significantly help with sand control in the Taklamakan Desert.

Three Gorges said the coal plants had received approvals, including environmental impact assessments and energy-saving evaluation, but are awaiting land use permits. The energy storage and clean energy generation facilities are at the pre-approval phase.

On the same day as the Taklamakan Desert announcement, Three Gorges said net profit fell 6.31%, to around CNY 5.09 billion, in the first three quarters of 2024. That figure came on the back of a 12.81% year-on-year revenue rise for the period, to around CNY 21.8 billion.

From pv magazine International.