China's new energy storage reaches new heights

The installed capacity of new energy storage projects that were put into operation during the first half of this year in China has reached 8.63 million kilowatts, equivalent to the total installed capacity of previous years in the country, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).

In terms of investment scale, the newly operated new energy storage projects have driven direct investment of more than 30 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) based on the current market price, said Liu Yafang, an official with the administration, during a conference held in Beijing on Monday.

New energy storage refers to electricity storage processes that use electrochemical, compressed air, flywheel and supercapacitor systems, but not pumped hydro.

With the rapid growth of the installed scale of renewable energy, the power system's demand for various regulatory resources has been growing, leading to accelerating development of new energy storage in the country in recent years, said Liu.

By the end of June, the cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage projects completed and put into operation in China has exceeded 17.33 million kilowatts, with an average storage time of 2.1 hours, she said.

zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn