A 60 MW/600 MWh LAES demonstration project in Qinghai province, northwest China, was connected to the grid and began generating electricity on October 30, marking a significant step toward the commercial deployment of large-scale cryogenic energy storage.
Located in Golmud, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the facility was developed by state-owned China Green Development Investment Group (CGDG) in cooperation with the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The developer describes the project as the world’s largest grid-connected liquid-air energy storage facility by both rated power and energy capacity.
Construction began in July 2023. The project was selected for China’s national new-type energy storage demonstration program and included in the National Energy Administration’s list of major first-of-a-kind energy technologies and equipment.
With a rated output of 60 MW and a storage capacity of 600 MWh, the facility is designed to deliver electricity continuously for 10 hours. According to CGDG, it could accommodate approximately 600 MWh of surplus renewable electricity daily and supply an estimated 180 GWh to the grid annually, equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 30,000 households.
The system uses ambient air as its working fluid, avoiding the need for electrochemical batteries or underground storage caverns.
When charging, surplus electricity drives a three-stage centrifugal compressor, pressurizing purified air to approximately 7 MPa. Heat generated during compression is recovered and stored as hot water at temperatures reaching 195 C.
The compressed air then passes through a multistage cooling process before being liquefied at approximately -194 C and stored in insulated cryogenic tanks at near-atmospheric pressure.
During discharge, the liquid air is pressurized, reheated and vaporized. The expanding gas drives turbines connected to generators, while cold energy recovered during vaporization is stored for reuse in subsequent charging cycles.
The project incorporates several domestically developed technologies, including large centrifugal compressors, liquid expanders, cryogenic heat exchangers and integrated control systems. CGDG said all major equipment was manufactured domestically, achieving a 100% localization rate.
The technology was developed through collaboration between CGDG and CAS researchers, who previously demonstrated liquid-air energy storage at the 100-kW scale. Engineering design was undertaken by Hualu Engineering & Technology, with China National Chemical Engineering Third Construction participating in construction.
Unlike many compressed-air energy storage configurations that require suitable geological formations, liquid-air storage uses insulated tanks, allowing greater flexibility in site selection. The rotating machinery can also provide inertial support to the power grid, according to the project developer.
The facility is located in Qinghai’s renewable-rich Qaidam Basin, where long-duration storage could help shift surplus solar and wind generation to periods of higher electricity demand.
China is pursuing multiple long-duration energy storage technologies alongside its dominant lithium-ion battery industry. Compressed-air systems, vanadium redox flow batteries, sodium-ion batteries and thermal storage are being developed for different operating durations and grid applications. The latest Golmud project provides a large-scale engineering demonstration for liquid-air storage.
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