China's First Molten Salt Energy Storage + Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Power Generation Project Breaks Ground

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 16, the "Ruicarbon" molten salt-coupled supercritical carbon dioxide novel thermal battery energy storage demonstration project located in Yantai, Shandong, broke ground. The project is being built relying on Huaneng Yantai Bajiao Thermal Power Co., Ltd., and serves as the engineering carrier of the national major science and technology project "Key Technology Development and Engineering Demonstration of Carbon Dioxide Thermal Battery," adopting the technical route of "molten salt energy storage + supercritical carbon dioxide power generation."

The project construction scale includes a 100MW/400MWh molten salt thermal storage system and a 50MW supercritical carbon dioxide power generation unit. Among them, the molten salt thermal storage system has a heat storage duration of 4 hours; the supercritical carbon dioxide unit has a power generation capacity of 50MW and is also capable of supplying steam at 110 tonnes/hour, 1.0MPa, and 280°C, and can generate power and supply steam continuously for approximately 2 hours.

According to the earlier tender documents, the project construction site is located at Bajiao Power Plant in Yantai Economic and Technological Development Zone, Shandong. The technical service scope includes preliminary design, construction drawing design, as-built drawing preparation, subsystem commissioning, overall commissioning, and commissioning during the production assessment period; equipment procurement includes complete sets of molten salt-coupled supercritical carbon dioxide thermal battery equipment and auxiliary equipment. The project has previously completed tendering for multiple core equipment, among which the molten salt–carbon dioxide heat exchanger was awarded to Harbin Boiler Company.

The main construction tender also entered the stage of winning candidates in August. The first winning candidate is PowerChina Shandong Electric Power Construction No. 1 Engineering Co., Ltd., with a bid of approximately 145.88 million yuan; the second winning candidate is Shandong Electric Power Construction No. 3 Engineering Co., Ltd., with a bid of approximately 146.14 million yuan.

The project's technical route uses molten salt as the high-temperature heat storage medium, converting and storing electrical or thermal energy in the molten salt system, and then driving supercritical carbon dioxide cycle power generation through the molten salt–carbon dioxide heat exchange system. The project is coupled with the existing coal-fired heating units of Bajiao Power Plant, and one of its goals is to improve unit operational flexibility and steam supply reliability. Huaneng Power International's 2026 semi-annual report has listed this project as a key demonstration project of new-type energy storage that the company is advancing.

According to the original construction plan, the project entered the construction phase in September 2026, and the molten salt module is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in June 2027, with the supercritical carbon dioxide module made ready for commissioning; the overall project is planned to be put into operation in December 2027.