In a major milestone for large-scale energy storage, the world's first 300MW-class artificial cavern compressed air energy storage power station, developed and invested in by China Energy Engineering Group, has achieved a successful first-phase gas injection test at its No. 4 underground storage cavern in the Jiuquan demonstration project, Gansu Province. The injection reached a maximum pressure of 12.63 megapascals, setting new world records for the largest cross-section, greatest volume, and highest storage pressure ever achieved in an artificial cavern gas storage system for compressed air energy storage. Throughout the full test cycle, the storage cavern performed exceptionally well, with all operational indicators exceeding expectations.
Building on the earlier success of the Wangcheng in-situ test platform in Hunan Province, this achievement represents another major breakthrough for China Energy Engineering Group's complete set of technologies for artificial cavern gas storage in compressed air energy storage applications. It signifies that China's large-scale artificial cavern gas storage technology has successfully transitioned from scientific research and exploration into practical engineering implementation.
The project boasts a total installed capacity of 300MW, featuring a single 300MW/1800MWh compressed air energy storage generation unit. It operates with a daily energy storage duration of 8 hours and a power generation duration of 6 hours, running approximately 330 days per year. The facility adopts China's most advanced fully independent innovation technology route, combining "non-afterburning combustion, adiabatic compression, multi-media wide-temperature heat storage, and artificial cavern storage."
The project sets several global benchmarks in the field. It features the world's largest-volume pressure-bearing artificial cavern, the highest comprehensive round-trip efficiency, the highest-performance compressed air energy storage system and equipment application, the world-first shared technology for charging and discharging heat exchange devices, a leading multi-media, wide-temperature-range heat storage and exchange system, and pioneering high internal pressure, large cross-section tunnel-type gas storage sealing technology.
Facing numerous unknown factors and risks during the first gas injection into the storage cavern, the project team remained on-site around the clock. They carefully refined the test plans, repeatedly simulated various operating condition changes, closely monitored key test parameters, and precisely controlled the gas injection rates and pressure rise and fall rhythms, ensuring the smooth and orderly progress of the gas injection test.
This test was conducted using China Energy Engineering Group's independently developed intelligent sensing and monitoring platform for underground compressed air energy storage caverns. This platform enabled real-time sensing and dynamic analysis of multiple parameters throughout the entire process, including cavern pressure, gas temperature, lining strain, surrounding rock displacement, and leakage conditions. The test results have thoroughly validated the reliability and safety of China Energy Engineering Group's system solution for artificial cavern gas storage.