China’s 600 MW/2.4 GWh storage plant becomes world’s largest CAES site

With 600 MW of installed capacity and 2,400 MWh of storage, the Huai’an Salt Cavern project is now the world’s largest compressed air energy storage (CAES) facility, surpassing the 300 MW/1,500 MWh project commissioned earlier this year that previously held the title.
Image: Shanghai Electric

From ESS News

While CAES remains a relatively small share of China’s total energy storage market compared with batteries and pumped storage, the sector is expanding rapidly as larger long‑duration projects move forward.

The newly commissioned 600 MW/2.4 GWh Huai’an Salt Cavern project dramatically increases deployed CAES capacity, claiming the title of the world’s largest such project. Earlier, in January 2026, the record was held by a 300 MW/1.5 GWh CAES plant using two underground salt caverns in central China’s Hubei province.

Huai’an’s lead may be short‑lived, however, with a 700 MW/4,200 MWh CAES project in Sanmenxia’s Shanzhou district already in development.

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