The No. 2 shaft of the Songyang Pumped Storage Power Station in Zhejiang Province was completed on May 2. This means that the power station, a crucial project in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), has now completed both of its shafts, as the No. 1 shaft was finished at the end of 2025.
The two shafts of the Songyang Pumped Storage Power Station in Zhejiang Province have been completed. Both reach a depth of 637 meters. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The power station has an upper reservoir, a lower reservoir, a water conveyance system, an underground facility, and a switchyard above the ground. Its water conveyance system has two single-stage vertical shafts that both reach a depth of 637 meters – equal in height to a skyscraper of more than 200 stories.
Adverse geological conditions, such as ultra-deep strata, faults, water seepage and ultra-hard rock, bring challenges to conventional drilling and blasting techniques, as they are neither efficient nor safe.
Because of this, China Three Gorges Corporation adopted intelligent equipment that is specially designed to excavate an ultra-deep shaft. The core device of the equipment, “Tiangong”, is a 480-ton, full-section shaft boring machine.
It can be adaptive to complicated rock strata and can perform a variety of tasks, including excavation, water supply, electrical control, laser guidance, fire protection and connection to a 5G communication network. With the help of the machine, 278.28 meters were bored in the No. 2 shaft in a single month, setting an industry record.
A “smart elevator” that can rise up to 700 meters is employed to work with the shaft boring machine. It can efficiently and safely transport personnel and materials as heavy as 60 metric tons.
The construction site of the upper reservoir of the Songyang Pumped Storage Power Station in Zhejiang Province. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The construction team has continued to optimize construction techniques. After gaining experience in building the No. 1 shaft, they made multiple improvements in the construction of the No. 2 shaft, thereby reducing construction time, streamlining the coordination between different procedures and enhancing the quality and safety of construction.
The power station is located in Songyang County, Lishui City. It is a daily-regulated pure pumped-storage plant, equipped with four 350-megawatt reversible pump-turbine generator units. Its first unit is expected to be connected to the grid at the end of 2027.
The power station will play a key role in various tasks, such as power adjustment, energy storage and emergency backup for the grid, contributing to the stable operation of East China’s grid and the consumption of new energy.
(Executive editor: Zuo Shihan)
