New-type energy storage poised to fuel China's growth

NANJING — In the eastern Chinese coastal county of Rudong, Jiangsu province, a 35-storey-high steel structure houses around 1,000 25-metric-ton gravity blocks that are lifted to store surplus renewable energy and lowered to produce electricity during peak demand.

Once fully completed, there will be a total of 12,000 gravity blocks, capable of generating 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in just four hours.

The demonstration project is an example of China's burgeoning energy storage economy. Building on its leadership in electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar panels, China is now poised to unlock a new economic growth frontier in new-type energy storage.