Improving Pumped Hydro Storage Flexibility in China: Scenarios for Advanced Solutions Adoption and Policy Recommendations

Leonardo Nibbi (), Paolo Sospiro, Maurizio De Lucia and Cheng-Cheng Wu
Additional contact information
Leonardo Nibbi: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Via S. Marta, 3, I-50139 Florence, Italy
Paolo Sospiro: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Via S. Marta, 3, I-50139 Florence, Italy
Maurizio De Lucia: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Via S. Marta, 3, I-50139 Florence, Italy
Cheng-Cheng Wu: International Hydropower Association, One Canada Square, London E14 5AA, UK

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-25

Abstract: The decarbonisation targets of the People’s Republic of China are ambitious. Their achievement relies on the large-scale deployment of variable renewable energy sources (VRES), such as wind and solar. High penetration of VRES may lead to balancing problems on the grid, which can be compensated by increasing the shifting flexibility capacity of the system by integration with energy storage, e.g., by installing additional electricity storage. Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) is the most diffused electricity storage technology at the global level and the only fully mature solution for long-term electricity storage. China already has the highest PHS capacity installed worldwide and plans to increase it strongly before 2030. The present study, based on the data from the “Pumped Storage Tracking Tool” of the International Hydropower Association, investigates the potential for technological improvement of the existing and future PHS fleet in China. The aims of adopting advanced PHS solutions allow China to better cope with the task of balancing the VRES production. The potential for adopting advanced PHS solutions is evaluated through five different intervention possibilities (here referred to as scenarios). These scenarios consider revamping part of the operational Pumped Storage Plant (PSP) fleet and redesigning future installations that are already planned. As a result, considering all the major technical and authorisation process constraints, 4.0% (5.2 GW) of the 132 GW fleet expected to be commissioned before 2035 could additionally adopt advanced PHS in a high-potential scenario. Meanwhile in the medium and low potential scenarios, the quota can reach 11.1% (14.6 GW) and 26.2% (34.5 GW), respectively. Furthermore, policy recommendations are elaborated to promote, facilitate, and support the adoption of these advanced PHS solutions.

Keywords: China; curtailment; energy policies; grid balancing; grid flexibility; pumped hydro storage; variable renewable energy sources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/21/7918/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/21/7918/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:21:p:7918-:d:952940

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().