The Baotang energy storage station is now fully operational in the southern Chinese city of Foshan. The station is the largest of its kind throughout the Greater Bay Area. It's also the country's first lithium battery energy storage station, able to integrate multiple technical routes. Our Cao Chufeng has more. 

Covering an area equivalent to five and a half football fields, the Baotang energy storage station has an installed capacity of 300 megawatts.

This accounts for one-fifth of the total installed capacity of new forms of power storage, across the Greater Bay Area.

Power storage stations are essential in maximizing the use of clean energy. Wind and solar power can be stored during periods of low electricity demand, and released when needed.

LIN QIHUA Engineer, China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage "Over the course of a year, the Baotang station can supply 430 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy to the Greater Bay Area, meeting the electricity needs of 200,000 households and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 300,000 tons."

Lithium battery energy storage accounts for more than 90% of new forms of energy storage in China. But Baotang is the first station that integrates multiple technical routes.

CAO CHUFENG Foshan, Guangdong Province "These energy storage units might look quite similar to each other, but they are composed of, and use, different technologies. This station is rather like a 'battlefield' , where these technologies can get compared with each other."

LIN QIHUA Engineer, China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage "It's challenging to evaluate the performance of different technical routes if they are not operating under similar conditions. Baotang allows the 9 most representative technical routes in China to be compared all at one station."

Temperature control for batteries is essential in ensuring the safety of power storage stations, and different techniques are used at Baotang. 

LIN QIHUA Engineer, China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage "What we have in front of us is an immersive cooling liquid technology. The batteries are fully immersed in the cooling liquid, allowing for better and more thorough contact between the batteries and the cooling fluid. This system we are seeing employs forced air cooling. These are the outer units of the air conditioners. This is a relatively traditional cooling method."

One of the functions of the control room is to gather data and determine the performance of the 9 technical routes. Technical staff hope the results will help with the overall development of China's power storage industry. 

Cao Chufeng, CGTN, Foshan.