Chinese state-run power transmission network operator State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) plans to invest US$5.7bn for the construction of five pumped-storage hydropower plants with a combined capacity of 6 GW across China. The projects will be built in the provinces of Jilin, Hebei, Shandong, Zhejiang and Xinjiang and should be commissioned by 2026.
The company currently has 19.23 GW of pumped hydro storage capacity and 30.15 GW of projects under construction in its control area. It aims at commissioning at least 40 GW of pumped-storage hydropower plants by 2020, in a move to boost domestic renewable energy production. Once built, these facilities can be used as reservoirs when demand is low and as hydro power stations to generate electricity when consumption rises again.
Pumped-storage facilities, along with compressed air energy storage and bulk storage with batteries can help prevent renewable power such as wind or solar from being wasted, when there is not enough transmission capacity to absorb the produced power. In the first half of 2018, wind power waste rate stood at 8.7%, while solar waste reached 3.6%.