Abstract: Insertion of high-proportion intermittent renewable energy has put forward new requirements for the flexible operation of coal-fired power plants.Energy storage technology，as a frequency regulation and load regulation technology ，is irreplaceable. Firstly，three energy storage technologies currently applied in coal-fired power plants are introduced which are pure heat storage device，heat storage device through thermo-electric conversion and heat storage device through thermo-chemical conversion.Their heat storage performances and the economic benefits should be focused. Secondly，the current situation of electric storage devices is introduced which include pure electric storage device， multi-energy complementary electric storage system and electric storage system coupling multiple energy storage technologies. It is pointed out that performance degradation is an important index for optimization and selection of batteries. Finally，the research status of other energy storage technologies represented by pumped storage，compressed air energy storage and flywheel energy storage is summarized. These energy storage technologies need to be optimized and coupled considering adaptive conditions of other energy storage technologies. It is expected to provide a development direction for the peak load regulation，frequency regulation and energy storage technology of coal power plants.

Key words: coal-fired power plant, peak load and frequency regulation, energy storage technology, research progress, storage battery, renewable energy, multi-energy complementation, flexible peak regulation, thermo-electric decoupling