China's Largest Energy Storage Station in Ningxia Successfully Connected to Grid

On February 25, the Mengjiawen 295MW/590MWh energy storage station at the National Energy Group Longyuan Power Ningxia Tengger "Desert-Gobi-Wasteland" new energy base was successfully connected to the grid. This facility is currently the largest energy storage station in Ningxia, injecting new momentum into local new energy industry development and power grid stability.

source:Longyuan Power

Background

Desert Regions as Energy "Oases"

The term "Desert-Gobi-Wasteland" refers to desert, gobi, and barren areas. China's desert, gobi, and wasteland regions are primarily distributed across Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, and other provinces. These areas have sparse vegetation, few inhabitants, blowing sand, and harsh climates, posing ongoing threats and challenges to human survival, earning them the name "seas of death." Although unsuitable for human habitation, these regions are genuine energy oases, characterized by abundant land resources, large tracts of unused land outside ecological red line areas, rich wind and solar resources, and low development and maintenance costs. Their technically developable capacity accounts for over 60% of the nation's total.

source: Longyuan Power

Promoting New Energy Development and Consumption in Ningxia

Ningxia has extensive desert, gobi, and wasteland areas with relatively abundant wind and solar resources. Building large-scale photovoltaic base projects in Ningxia helps address the land resource constraints facing photovoltaic industry development and effectively improves resource utilization and development efficiency. In June 2020, President Xi Jinping visited Ningxia and assigned it the mission of striving to build a pioneer zone for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. Ningxia, adhering to the principle of "zero new additions" for coal power planning, has adopted a coordinated approach combining new wind power, photovoltaics, and existing coal power generation, along with an appropriate proportion of energy storage. This approach leverages Ningxia's clean energy advantages to create a national comprehensive demonstration zone for high-proportion new energy development and integrated utilization, driving innovation across the entire new energy industry chain and promoting Ningxia's industrial structure transformation and upgrading.

Technical Features

Compared to conventional energy storage stations, this facility features rapid frequency and voltage regulation, increased system inertia, improved short-circuit ratio, and active suppression of power grid disturbances, significantly enhancing new energy power system stability. The battery cooling system employs liquid cooling technology throughout, effectively improving heat dissipation efficiency and extending battery life. The fire protection system uses single-PACK level detection and spraying technology, while the intelligent monitoring system uses infrared explosion-proof cameras to monitor equipment status in real-time, ensuring safe and stable operation.

After connecting to the grid, based on one charge-discharge cycle per day at 95% capacity each time, the station can charge and discharge 190 million kWh annually. It provides powerful energy regulation and reserve capacity, offering strong energy storage support for local new energy generation enterprises. The station will play an active role in grid peak regulation and frequency modulation, peak shaving and valley filling, enhancing power system security and stability, and promoting efficient utilization of new energy, effectively alleviating local new energy consumption and power supply-demand conflicts.

source: Longyuan Power

Combining Energy Development with Ecological Governance

Focusing on western desert, gobi, and wasteland areas, this project uses large-scale wind and photovoltaic bases as a driving force, combining them with environmental protection and restoration. The intensive and economical use of land to build solar photovoltaic power stations is significant for water storage, soil conservation, climate regulation, and environmental improvement. This model not only converts the abundant sunshine in western regions into clean energy but also reduces desertification control costs and promotes ecological improvement. It greatly increases land use value, achieving a win-win situation for photovoltaic power generation and vegetation restoration, aligning with national and Ningxia regional requirements for ecological governance and clean energy development.