The power plant is equipped with two reservoirs at different heights. During the periods of low electrical demand, electricity from the general grid will be used for pumping the water from the lower reservoir to the upper one from which the water will be discharged for electricity generation. The capacity of the upper reservoir (45 million cubic meters of water) will be sufficient enough to continuously produce 40 GW*h of electricity, which is comparable to the daily electricity consumption in Croatia.
The PSPP annual energy generation in turbine mode will be 6.6 TW*h and the consumption in pumping mode will be 8.7 TW*h. Electricity from the wind and solar generators, with total capacity 10 GW located in Zhangjiakou Municipal District will be used for pumping the water from the lower reservoir to the upper one. As a result, the PSPP will reduce the need for building the storage facilities to utilize excess electricity when low grid demand would combine with sunny and windy weather.
The PSPP infrastructure includes an underground engine room 414 meters long, 54.5 meters high and 25 meters wide, as well as 190 tunnels with a total length of over 50 kilometers. The power plant is connected to a 500 kV power transmission line which will transport electricity to the PRC’s northern regions.
Upon the project completion, the installed capacity of the PSPPs managed by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) has reached 40.6 GW. In the coming years, the SGCC plans to commission another 53.5 GW of the pumped storage power plants, also for balancing the use of wind turbines and solar panels.