Recently, the 350 MW compressed air energy storage project developed and constructed by China Energy Construction Corporation in Urumqi Daban City successfully passed the feasibility study review. This marks the official implementation phase of Xinjiang's first commercial large-scale long-duration independent energy storage project.
The review experts unanimously recognized that the project’s site selection, geology, station planning, and connection systems meet construction requirements. As Xinjiang's first project of its kind, it has significant strategic importance in promoting energy transformation, enhancing grid flexibility, contributing to economic development, and optimizing industrial structure.
China Energy Construction's project leader noted that the Daban City project has achieved multiple technological breakthroughs. The project uses an advanced technical route of "non-reburning, medium-temperature adiabatic compression," achieving a single unit power of 350 MW, with energy storage and discharge durations of six hours, and an operation schedule exceeding 330 days per year. This effectively stabilizes the volatility and intermittency of wind and solar generation, providing critical support for the "steady output" of renewable electricity and ensuring safe and stable operations of new power systems.
The "above-ground and underground coordination" model significantly enhances system efficiency. The above-ground facility features domestically produced multi-stage axial and centrifugal compressor units alongside an advanced storage and heat exchange system. The underground artificial cavern provides a safe and stable gas storage space, with tailored parameters achieving efficient energy storage and release, maximizing system conversion efficiency.
Furthermore, the project incorporates digital intelligence into plant operations, creating an intelligent plant based on digital control technology. It fosters information fusion and smart operations following the "distributed layout, centralized management" principle, improving operational efficiency while accumulating valuable data assets and operational experience for the large-scale application of compressed air energy storage technologies.
From economic, social, and ecological perspectives, once completed, the Daban City project is expected to facilitate the consumption of approximately 693,000 MWh of renewable green electricity annually and reduce CO2 emissions by about 540,500 tons per year, providing robust support for Xinjiang's carbon neutrality goals. During its construction phase, the project will create over 1,200 jobs and provide nearly 100 high-end technical positions during operation, directly stimulating local employment and fostering technical talent development.
Moreover, the project will drive the upgrading of Xinjiang's upstream and downstream industries such as steel, building materials, and cement, promoting the efficient and circular use of wind and solar resources and injecting new momentum into the development of the regional circular economy.
As a key component of the "integrated green power station in Xinjiang," the Daban City project plays a crucial role in advancing the dual spiral coupling of technological and industrial innovation. By utilizing an innovative model of "wind and solar + diversified storage + digital control + UHV DC transmission," it successfully verifies the feasibility of coupling long-duration storage with large-scale clean energy, effectively smoothing the output of wind and solar power while reducing impacts on the grid.
Experts indicate that this model will not only provide replicable technological and operational solutions for subsequent integrated source and storage green projects in Xinjiang and the northwest but will also deliver threefold regional value. In terms of energy security, the project will enhance the regulating capacity of the Urumqi-Changji power grid and Xinjiang's energy self-sufficiency, providing a stable green electricity supply to the Hexi Corridor energy route. In terms of industrial synergy, the project will drive the cluster development of storage equipment manufacturing, digital control, and UHV transmission industries in Xinjiang and the Hexi Corridor, forming a cross-regional new energy industrial belt. Demonstratively, it will prove that "integrated source and storage" is the core path for energy transformation in the northwestern frontier region, aiding the northwest in establishing a national clean energy demonstration base.
As the power transmission span in southern Xinjiang is large and supply radius long, challenges in renewable energy consumption and supportive power sources have become pronounced. Compressed air energy storage, with its capabilities for voltage regulation and rotational inertia support, can deeply engage in voltage stabilization control of the main network, short-term frequency support, and dynamic reactive power compensation for grid operations; it can also serve as a "black start source" during network faults or emergencies. China Energy Construction’s digital science and technology division plans to construct multiple compressed air energy storage projects around Hotan and Minfeng substations, which, once completed, will create a safety barrier for the secure and stable operation of the Hotan and southern Xinjiang power grids, facilitating the high-quality establishment of a new power system in southern Xinjiang.
