China Grid-Connects First 100MW-Class Compressed CO2 Energy Storage Project

Compressed CO2 storage reaching the 100MW class matters less as a chemistry story than as a siting story: it gives China another long-duration option that does not depend on lithium, pumped hydro geography or gas peakers, which is exactly the gap grid operators struggle to fill as renewables penetration rises. Huadian's project also signals that state generators, not startups, are carrying this technology toward scale. Whether the Mulei design's efficiency and cost claims hold across repeated cycles, and whether other provinces replicate the format, is the open question worth watching.