On March 7, the first batch of concrete for the main powerhouse of Unit 2 of the Huaneng Jintan Salt Cavern Compressed Air Energy Storage Power Generation Phase II Project, constructed by SEPCO1 Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd., was successfully poured, marking that the main powerhouse has fully entered the foundation structure construction stage.

The project is located in Jintan District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. It plans to build two 350 MW non-supplementary-fired compressed air energy storage units, with a total salt cavern volume of 1.2 million cubic meters, 8 hours of energy storage and 4 hours of power generation. A single charge can store 2.8 million kWh of electricity, with an estimated 330 charge-discharge cycles per year, equivalent to saving 270,000 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 520,000 tons. Once completed, the project will be the compressed air energy storage power station with the largest single-unit power, the largest total capacity and the highest comprehensive efficiency in the world at present.

As a key project in Jiangsu Province, the project has broken through bottleneck technical barriers. It will develop and install the world's most advanced air turbine and compressor units, and achieve 100% localization of core equipment. Since the start of the project, the Jintan project team of SEPCO1 Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd. has devoted itself to the work with a sprint-from-the-start and full-effort-from-day-one mindset, overcome pressures and difficulties, focused all work on the project and all efforts on advancing the project, strengthened project planning, moved quickly to organize the start of construction, enhanced technical communication and resource allocation, unswervingly advanced all work, and strictly strengthened on-site control of safety, technology, quality and schedule, ensuring the rapid progress of the project and laying a solid foundation for the smooth achievement of the first milestone node.

As a new type of long-duration energy storage, the salt cavern compressed air energy storage power station features salt caverns that, owing to their large space, strong sealing and self-healing capacity, can achieve safe, environmentally friendly and low-cost energy storage, and is known as a green "underground power bank." During periods of low electricity demand, the station can use surplus electrical energy to drive compressor units similar to an "air pump" and store large-capacity high-pressure air in underground salt caverns. During peak electricity demand, the compressed air is released and converted into electrical energy through the work of an air expansion system, thereby filling the power gap. This can effectively improve the regional energy structure, enhance the regulation capacity of local power grids and the capacity to absorb new energy, promote the efficient use of renewable energy, and provide strong support for the stable operation of power grids.