Chongqing Panlong Pumped Storage Power Station Opens Gates for Water Storage
Release Time: August 2, 2023
On August 1, the Chongqing Panlong Pumped Storage Power Station, located in Zhongfeng Town, Qijiang District, officially opened its gates to store water. It is expected to start trial power generation in mid-December. The power station is the first large-scale pumped storage power station in Southwest China.
With a total investment of 7.118 billion yuan, the Chongqing Panlong Pumped Storage Power Station boasts a total installed capacity of 1.2 million kilowatts. It is designed to have an annual pumped power of 2.672 billion kWh and an annual power generation of 2.004 billion kWh.
At 10:22 am on the morning of August 1st, the gate down command was issued, and a black gate slowly descended into the designated position approximately 2 minutes later. The gate is located in front of a hole at the storage power station, known as the “diversion tunnel,” which guides the water flow of the power station. The water storage process takes about 3 months.
The Chongqing Panlong Pumped Storage Power Station differs from conventional hydropower stations as it can flexibly use its “pumping” function according to the power load. In times of low power load, it can pump water to the upper reservoir. Conversely, during high power load, it releases water to the lower reservoir to generate electricity.
The power generated by the Chongqing Panlong Pumped Storage Power Station will be connected to the Chongqing power grid through a 500 kV transmission line, supplying power to the entire Southwest region. It will serve as an important backbone power source for Chongqing’s future power grid, alleviating pressure on electricity consumption by fulfilling tasks such as peak regulation, valley filling, frequency regulation, phase regulation, and emergency backup.