According to recent reports from the China Energy News Center, the Nanjing Steel Group, in collaboration with China Three Gorges Energy and Lingchu Energy, has successfully established a 61MW/123MWh energy storage station, referred to as the “Nanjing Steel Energy Storage Station.” This facility recently celebrated a significant milestone: since achieving full-capacity grid connection in January 2024, it has been operating continuously for over 10,000 hours. The station has transferred peak electricity loads exceeding 10 million kilowatt-hours, demonstrating substantial cost savings on electricity bills while maximizing the economic benefits of energy storage through peak shaving and valley filling. Additionally, it has enhanced the utilization level of regional energy storage facilities and contributed to demand response, delayed power system upgrades, and provided ancillary services.
Remarkably, the Nanjing Steel Energy Storage Station has achieved a system efficiency of 90.29%, as certified by the State Grid Electric Power Research Institute. This figure not only challenges the industry’s perception of the economic viability of commercial and industrial energy storage but also positions this project as a benchmark case for the deep integration of traditional heavy industry with new energy technology.
The project investor, China Three Gorges Energy, reported positive operational results for the Nanjing Steel Energy Storage Station, indicating that the project effectively responds to user-side peak shaving demands, thereby enhancing the alignment between energy supply and demand. Lingchu Energy has been involved throughout the process, from design to operational support, successfully embedding the energy storage system into the production workflow. The long-term operation has been efficient, stable, and highly utilized, maximizing the investment returns of the “energy storage + steel” model.
How was such a high efficiency of “90%+” achieved? This success can be attributed to Lingchu Energy’s profound optimization of the technical framework and meticulous project design. On the technical side, Lingchu Energy implemented a string-based solution. The Ocean Energy Blue Sea storage unit employs a “one cluster, one management” design, breaking away from traditional centralized approaches and eliminating circulating currents. The thermal management system utilizes a flexible intelligent cooling strategy that adjusts the cooling output based on battery cell conditions, environmental temperature, and operational status, with daily energy consumption of the liquid cooling unit dropping to 45.91 kWh.
To further improve system efficiency, Lingchu Energy has installed photovoltaic panels on each storage cabinet to support station power needs, while every streetlight at the site is also equipped with photovoltaic panels and small wind turbines, thus minimizing power losses and enhancing system efficiency through renewable energy sources.
In response to the stringent safety requirements of the steel industry, Lingchu Energy has implemented a comprehensive safety system that includes a “three-level fire safety + five-level fuse” mechanism, proactive safety measures like “cluster thermal management + intelligent monitoring,” and passive safety measures including fault isolation. This approach prevents incidents before they occur. By deploying AI models locally, the Ocean Energy Blue Sea storage unit can provide safety warnings for thermal runaway more than two months in advance and detect minor internal short circuits with over 95% accuracy.
Additionally, the project has developed a big data analysis module for battery health, allowing real-time monitoring of each battery cell’s status and achieving 0.3-second response times for anomalies and 97% accuracy in lifespan predictions.
As the first 100 MWh-level string-type user-side energy storage project in China, the Nanjing Steel Energy Storage Station demonstrates the scalability potential of this technological approach. The flexible configuration of the string-type energy storage system aligns closely with the actual needs of commercial and industrial users—modular designs permit staged expansion based on demand, avoiding substantial one-time capital investments. The liquid cooling system significantly enhances charge and discharge efficiency, achieving a 4% to 5% increase in total discharge over the lifecycle compared to centralized solutions.
Lingchu Energy’s achievements extend beyond the Nanjing Steel Energy Storage Station. In 2024, the company ranked among the top two in shipments of string-type energy storage systems with over 1 GWh of total installed capacity and was among the top ten for commercial and industrial energy storage system integration. Notable projects include the Meigang 50 MW/100 MWh energy storage station and the Binhai 200 MW/400 MWh independent shared energy storage station.
The Meigang project utilized 252 Ocean 400L liquid-cooled storage cabinets, generating 32.8 million yuan in revenue in its first year. Meanwhile, the Binhai project, currently the largest string-type grid-side energy storage station, employs 1,080 energy blue sea storage cabinets for grid peak shaving and frequency regulation, thereby enhancing the renewable energy absorption capacity for stakeholders.
With a foundation in string-type energy storage solutions and a reliance on a “modular products + intelligent management” model, Lingchu Energy is helping clients reshape energy management paradigms in industrial settings. Looking ahead, the company aims to become an “energy partner” for clients in high energy-consuming industries such as steel, providing comprehensive services from energy supply to carbon asset management, thereby supporting more stakeholders in achieving low-carbon production and contributing to the green transformation of industry.
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