The world market leader in battery technology, China is also making strides in another promising storage technology that puts it ahead of both Europe and the USA. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is seen as a cost-effective, long-term solution for storing excess electricity generated from sources like solar and wind power. This is particularly important for utilizing this electricity during periods of low generation, such as at night or when wind speeds are low.
China has already taken the lead in CAES technology with two facilities that went online at the beginning of April and early May, respectively. The first facility, located in Hubei, has a capacity of 1,500 megawatt hours and uses abandoned salt mines to store compressed air for efficient energy storage and distribution. The second facility, located in Feicheng, has a capacity of 1,800 MWh and also utilizes abandoned salt mines for energy storage. Both facilities boast an efficiency rate of up to 72.1 percent, allowing them to deliver power to hundreds of thousands of households.
The Chinese government is heavily investing in these compressed air storage projects and plans for more installations in the near future. Other countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Canada