(Yicai) Sept. 10 -- East China's largest pumped storage power station, with a total investment of CNY12.5 billion (USD1.8 billion), is about to begin construction.

Located in Jiande, Zhejiang province, the station will have an installed capacity of 2.4 gigawatts, the project developer GCL Energy Technology told Yicai yesterday. It is scheduled to go live before 2030 and will mainly undertake peak shaving, valley filling, and energy storage tasks for the power grid in East China, the firm added.

The power station will include six reversible hydro generators with a capacity of 400,000 kW per unit, GCL Energy noted. Annual power generation will likely reach an average of 2.52 billion kW-hours, saving around 480,000 tons of standard coal a year, it said.

"The main rationale for investing in building the Jiande pumped storage power station is to respond to the call for optimizing and adjusting the national energy structure," an insider from GCL Energy said to Yicai. Completing the project will help ensure the stable operation of the power system, the person added.

Upon completion and starting operations, the power station will become the largest pumped storage power station in East China, GCL Energy pointed out, adding that it is the first and only pumped storage power station the firm has invested in and constructed.

The scale of this project is substantial, and the investment amount is significant, the insider noted. GCL Energy's decision to undertake this project reflects its confidence in the clean energy market and its positive outlook on the pumped storage business model, the person added.  

GCL Energy is actively evaluating potential investment opportunities in other pumped storage power station projects or renewable energy projects, the insider said. "Subsequent investment decisions will be made based on a comprehensive consideration of market conditions, policy directions, and the company's strategic planning."

Pumped storage is the most mainstream method of energy storage. During periods of low grid demand, excess electricity is used to pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper one, while during peak grid demand, the water is released to generate electricity, stabilizing the grid load.

The Fengning pumped storage power station in North China is the largest worldwide, with a total installed capacity of 3.6 million kW.

The global installed capacity of pumped storage reached 179.13 million kW as of the end of last year, according to data recently released by the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute. China accounts for about 28 percent, the most in the world.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev