“China launches the world’s largest liquid air energy storage system.”

China has commissioned the world’s largest energy storage system based on Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) technology. The installation, named Super Air Power Bank, has a capacity of 60 MW and 600 MWh and is located in the Gobi Desert in Qinghai Province. The project was developed in collaboration between the China Green Development Investment Group (CGDI) and the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is integrated with a 250 MW photovoltaic farm.

Scale and context of the investment
Super Air Power Bank is currently the largest installation of its kind in the world, significantly surpassing previous pilot and demonstration projects.

Key parameters of the project include:

• Output power: 60 MW

• Storage capacity: 600 MWh

• Continuous operation time: up to 10 hours

• Annual energy production: approx. 180 GWh

• Supply: equivalent to about 30,000 households

How LAES technology works
LAES uses air as the energy storage medium. During periods of low demand or renewable energy overproduction, electricity powers compressors that:

Clean and compress the air, generating heat in the process,

Cool it to –194°C, causing it to liquefy,

Store the liquid air in low-temperature tanks at atmospheric pressure.

The heat generated during compression is not wasted but stored in special tanks and later used during the expansion process. When energy demand rises, the liquid air is heated, expands rapidly (increasing its volume over 750 times), and drives turbines to generate electricity.

In the Chinese installation, the cold storage achieved over 95% efficiency, with a closed-cycle efficiency exceeding 55%.

Breaking technological barriers
The Qinghai project is not just about scale. According to CGDI, its success relied on solving several key technical challenges, including:

Cascaded cold storage at ultra-low temperatures,

Development of a low-temperature storage system at atmospheric pressure,

Stable energy release at constant pressure,

Full integration of heat and cold recovery systems.

An additional challenge was the high-altitude desert location. Despite this, the project was completed in less than 2.5 years, from the start of construction in July 2023 to intensive testing and commissioning at the end of 2025. All infrastructure is based on domestically produced components, and solutions are protected by independent intellectual property rights.

Significance for renewable energy systems
LAES is particularly suited for integration with variable renewable energy sources. Chinese scientists note that solar and wind power are intermittent and unpredictable, creating balancing challenges for electricity systems.

Super Air Power Bank serves as:

A buffer for renewable energy surpluses,

A source of power during peak hours,

A grid stabilization tool without relying on fossil fuels.

With the ability to store energy for several hours—or even days—LAES occupies a segment where conventional lithium-ion batteries are no longer economically justified.

Compared to other long-duration storage solutions, LAES offers several key advantages:

No geological requirements (unlike CAES),

Uses a widely available medium—air,

Can be located near renewable sources and consumers,

Long energy storage duration.

At the same time, the technology still faces challenges: high capital costs (cryogenic tanks, compressors), moderate efficiency, and a limited number of reference commercial projects. Outside China, one of the few large-scale projects is Highview Power’s 300 MWh LAES system under construction in the United Kingdom.