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China starts construction on hybrid molten-salt and CO2 power system
The Ruitan demonstration project in Shandong is expected to begin operating next year, combining 50 MW of supercritical CO2 generation with 100 MW of molten-salt energy storage.
China has broken ground on a new hybrid energy production and storage facility designed to cut waste and support grid stability, using molten salt for storage and a supercritical carbon dioxide system for electricity generation during peak demand.
Construction of the Ruitan demonstration project began last week in Shandong province, where the plant is being built on the site of an existing coal-fired facility, the Bajiao power station in Yantai.
The project is expected to be operational by next year and will be the first of its kind to run worldwide, with an initial phase that pairs a 50 megawatt supercritical unit with a 100 megawatt molten-salt energy storage system.
According to OilPrice, the system will capture surplus energy from the coal plant when demand is low, store it as thermal energy in a molten-salt reactor, and later use that heat to power the supercritical CO2 unit, which generates electricity by driving a turbine without relying on traditional steam.