While there are renewable generation systems of this scale in service today, there are no battery systems of this size, the partners noted. The State Grid system is demonstrating a stable solution for transferring vast amounts of renewable electricity safely to the grid on an unprecedented scale. Although BYD manufactures 1GW of solar panels annually, their role in this project was primarily providing energy storage batteries in arrays larger than a football field.

SGCC chose BYD’s Iron-Phosphate battery technology because of its superior service life (more than 20 years) and also used BYD’s “peak shaving & load leveling” charge and discharge methodologies. BYD’s announcement on 30 September 30 2011, “China’s Largest and First Environmentally-friendly Battery Storage Station,” was the first of many MW-level cooperative projects with China’s Southern Power Grid (CSG). This new project with the State Grid has outpaced other grid projects in China and, though independently designed by SGCC, is part of the national “Golden Sun” program. The first phase investment with 100 MW of Wind, 40MW of Solar and 36MWh of Battery is worth more than US$500 million (~3.3 billion RMB).

The large-scale implementation of clean and green energy, such as wind and solar power, can only be realized when the technical difficulties of this new energy application in the utility system are resolved. This State Grid project demonstrates a solution and will be the model of development for China’s new energy resources.

—Xiu Binglin, Deputy Director of the National Energy Administration