On December 12, the No. 4 unit of the Shaanxi Zhen'an Pumped Storage Power Station, Shaanxi Province's first pumped storage power station, was officially put into commercial operation, marking the station's full commissioning for power generation and achieving a new breakthrough in regulating power sources for the Shaanxi power grid.

The Zhen'an Pumped Storage Power Station is located in Zhen'an County, Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province, and consists of an upper reservoir, a lower reservoir, a water conveyance system, an underground powerhouse, and a surface switchyard. The station is equipped with four reversible pump-turbine generator-motor units, each with a unit capacity of 350 MW, with a total installed capacity of 1,400 MW, a rated head of 440 meters, and a designed annual power generation of 2.34 billion kWh and annual pumping power consumption of 3.121 billion kWh. The station was surveyed and designed by Northwest Institute, and constructed by Sinohydro Bureau 3 and Sinohydro Bureau 15.

Zhen'an in Shaanxi is an old revolutionary base area, located in the central region of the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base. To protect the natural landscape of the old revolutionary base area, the design team of Northwest Institute integrated the green and low-carbon concept throughout all stages, including site selection planning, feasibility study design, and engineering construction. In terms of site selection planning, the lower reservoir follows the natural river channel, and the excavation and filling area of the reservoir basin mountain body is small, greatly protecting the original ecology from damage. In the design of the upper reservoir, the principle of "determining the dam based on available materials" was adopted to optimize the zoning of dam and reservoir basin filling, and technical measures such as adding a modulus-increasing zone at the reservoir bottom to reduce uneven deformation of the asphalt face slab significantly improved the utilization rate of excavated materials and effectively saved project investment. In terms of waterstop design, the concrete face slabs of the upper and lower reservoirs adopted coated waterstops combined with integrally stamped copper waterstops and factory one-piece molded special-shaped joints, featuring advanced seepage control technology and low measured leakage, ensuring efficient operation and environmental benefits of the reservoirs.

During construction, Northwest Institute worked closely with the construction team to implement the relevant requirements for Qinling ecological environmental protection to a high standard, build and apply an environmental monitoring system, and formulate detailed procedures for the recycling and utilization of wastewater and waste, achieving "zero discharge," "zero leakage," and "zero pollution." After the station is fully commissioned, it will save approximately 117,000 tons of standard coal per year and reduce emissions of approximately 305,000 tons of carbon dioxide and approximately 2,800 tons of sulfur dioxide, with significant energy-saving and emission-reduction benefits. It is an important support for serving the goals of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality."