The world's first 300MW/1800MWh advanced compressed air energy storage national demonstration power station in Feicheng, Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China has made breakthroughs on compressed air energy storage, as the world's largest of such power station has achieved its first grid connection and power generation in China's Shandong province.

The power station, with a 300MW system, is claimed to be the largest compressed air energy storage power station in the world, with highest efficiency and lowest unit cost as well.

With a total investment of 1.496 billion yuan ($206 million), its rated design efficiency is 72.1 percent, meaning that it can achieve continuous discharge for six hours, generating approximately 600 million kWh per year.

Industry experts said that it will provide power support for about 200,000 to 300,000 households during peak electricity hours.

This new type of power station was independently developed by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Zhongchu Guoneng (Beijing) Technology Co Ltd.

The two teams said that, compared to the 100MW CAES system, the unit cost of 300MW CAES system decreases by more than 30 percent, helping it save about 189,000 metric tons of standard coal annually and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 490,000 tons.