This aerial photo taken on Aug. 6 shows the starting ceremony for the construction of a pumped-storage power station in Guinan County, northwest China's Qinghai Province. (Xinhua)

XINING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Qinghai Province on Sunday started construction on a pumped-storage power station with a maximum energy storage capacity of about 20 million kWh, marking another key project in western China, which is abundant in clean energy resources.

The power station is a hydropower station that uses electricity to pump water to a higher place for storage and then releases the water to generate electricity when the power supply is insufficient.

With a total investment of nearly 16 billion yuan (about 2.24 billion U.S. dollars), the project in Guinan County of Qinghai is expected to be the pumped-storage power station with the largest installed capacity in western China.

The new station's total installed capacity can reach 2.8 million kilowatts. If put into operation, it is estimated to help slash standard coal consumption by about 1.82 million tonnes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 4.55 million tonnes per year.

Qinghai expects to see its installed new energy capacity exceed 100 million kilowatts by 2030.