2018 is a crucial year for China's energy storage development. Under the guidance of the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of China's Energy Storage Technology and Industry", with the issuance and implementation of the supporting documents on "Several Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of the Power System", China's energy storage market has achieved another round of rapid growth. . Entering 2019, under the dual promotion of policies and markets, the energy storage industry has opened up a new course of development towards scale.
Scale development conditions are getting better and better
Electrochemical energy storage continues to develop at a high speed. The latest statistics from the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance (CNESA) show that by the end of 2018, China has put into operation the cumulative installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage to reach 1011.5MW, while more than 3GW of construction and planning projects will be invested in the next two or three years. Shipped. In terms of scale, energy storage has experienced an unprecedented development climax. The compound growth rate for 2011-2019 is 50%. The beginning of the scale-oriented development of the industry has emerged.
A variety of business models are perfected in practice. From the application point of view, according to CNESA data, by the end of 2018, China's electrochemical energy storage in the centralized renewable energy grid, auxiliary services, grid side and user side of the four application areas of the cumulative installation ratio of 17.8%, 14.3%, 21.4%, 46.5%, changed the situation of the user side in the previous years. In 2018, two hundred megawatt-level projects achieved zero breakthrough in grid-side energy storage applications, enabling energy storage to be balanced in four major application areas, and market applications were fully rolled out.
Non-subsidized policies promote market development. From the support policies of the photovoltaic and electric vehicle industries, subsidies are a double-edged sword. As a flexible power supply, supporting emerging technologies for the efficient development of smart energy, renewable energy, power systems, and transportation systems, the energy storage policy focuses on open market access, supports the establishment of market mechanisms and price mechanisms, and compensates for light subsidies.
Once the policy support system at the national level is formed, it will lead to the introduction of policies in various provinces and cities and related industries across the country. For example, on January 30, 2019, China Southern Power Grid Corporation issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of Electrochemical Energy Storage” (Draft for Comment), which uses energy storage as an important means to promote development and solve problems, and closely tracks energy storage. Technological development, actively promote the application of energy storage; on February 18, 2019, the State Grid Corporation's General Office issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of Electrochemical Energy Storage". The document determines the boundaries and priorities for the development of energy storage at all levels of the State Grid Corporation. It also publicly defines the development direction of the State Grid Corporation for the first time. On March 4, 2019, the Suzhou Industrial Park Management Committee issued the “Suzhou Industrial Park Green”. The Measures for the Administration of Special Guided Funds for Development shall be clearly defined for the energy storage projects that have been implemented in the park and have been put into operation on the grid. After the project is put into operation, the owner of the project will be subsidized by 0.3 yuan/KWh and supplemented for 3 years.
A number of energy storage standards were introduced. With the deepening of the application of energy storage demonstration, the construction of the standard specification system has become very urgent. In 2014, China established the National Electricity Storage Standardization Committee, which is responsible for the revision and revision of energy storage standards. In 2015, the National Electricity Storage Standards Committee proposed a preliminary power storage standard system based on the current status of power storage standards, and divided the energy storage standards into basic general categories, planning and design categories, equipment testing, construction acceptance, and The network detection class and the operation and maintenance class cover various forms of energy storage. In 2017, the National Energy Administration approved the special research work on the energy storage field standard in the energy industry (Guoneng Synthetic Technology [2017] No. 38), and agreed to organize the special research work on the standardization of energy storage in the energy industry by the China Electrical Equipment Industry Association.
In 2018, the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance was shortlisted for the second batch of group standards for the National Standards Committee. The Alliance has carried out the construction of group standards by collecting relevant units' requirements for energy storage standards and focusing on electrochemical energy storage, physical energy storage, heat storage, and comprehensive utilization of energy storage for decommissioned power batteries. Recently, more companies and research institutes have actively participated in the construction of energy storage standards and norms, preparing for the large-scale, all-field application of energy storage in the future.
Still need to improve competitiveness in many aspects
As an emerging technology and an emerging industry, power storage has been difficult to explore. On the eve of large-scale development, energy storage must step up preparations in the following four aspects:
Continue to promote technological innovation and application innovation. At present, the industry lacks a technology that combines high capacity, high efficiency, long life and high safety. The innovation of new materials and new technology systems is still the focus, solid-state lithium-ion batteries, water-based batteries, metal-air batteries, and hydrogen fuel cells. The development of technology and other innovations in the future may become an important force in industrial technology breakthroughs. For example, the energy storage side of the thermal power unit is involved in frequency modulation, and the peak-to-valley arbitrage is used to reduce the electricity cost of the user. For example, some energy storage application types have been practiced in the market and have certain profitability. However, with the increasing integration of energy storage and power systems, the market needs application innovations that are oriented toward customer needs and aiming at solving customer problems. These demand-based applications are still not clear enough, and they also require deep storage of energy storage companies. Fine work.
Actively participate in policy research and policy promotion. The current energy storage market is characterized by dual policies and requirements. Whether it is regional renewable energy development policy, supporting policies for electricity reform, energy conservation and environmental protection, multi-energy complementarity and energy Internet development, it is possible to benefit the application and economic improvement of energy storage, so local policies are tracked and studied in real time. It will help enterprises to use policies to promote applications or increase profits. Under the premise of clear appeals, it is necessary and valuable to participate in the localization of energy storage policies. For example, in 2018, energy storage enterprises will participate in the promotion of the State Grid Jiangsu The introduction of the Regulations on the Grid-Connected Storage System has solved the problem of difficulty in grid connection of energy storage projects.
Enhance cost management and product development. The energy storage market has expanded and the number of projects has soared. The mainstream energy storage enterprises are not lacking in project opportunities, but they are still subject to the current situation that the cost of energy storage and electricity is still higher than that of China's power consumption. Low-price competition and shrinking profits are given. Industrial development has brought difficulties. Taking lithium iron phosphate battery as an example, according to CNESA's continuous research on manufacturers, although the cost is reduced by nearly 70% compared with 2013, the cost of electricity in 2018 is 0.5-0.6 yuan/KWh, but it is still difficult to meet the low price of users. Claim. Therefore, the cost management of energy storage systems is a top priority. While minimizing the cost of the battery body, we must also work hard on the cost reduction of various management systems, monitoring systems, and ancillary equipment, as well as control design costs, production costs, marketing costs, and management costs. With the increasing demand in the energy storage market, the transformation from on-demand system to productization in some areas is also an important preparation for reducing costs and expanding application. Some manufacturers have started product development from household energy storage systems. .
Strengthen market expansion and market promotion. Compared with the value that energy storage can achieve, the existing application types and markets of energy storage are still small. Before the actual development of industrialization, the development space is still huge. From a horizontal perspective, it is necessary to develop cross-industry applications for energy storage. The application of energy storage outside the electricity market is almost blank, including military, rail transit, ports, mining, smart devices, and wearables. From a vertical perspective, we must deepen our understanding of power customer business and customer behavior. Energy storage integrators and operators should strengthen cooperation and joint ventures with service units in power generation groups and power grid enterprise systems, such as project implementation units, integrated energy service units, and power service companies in power systems to jointly develop and expand reserves. The market has been able to start joint venture cooperation with Kehua Hengsheng, Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy and Cairi Energy. With the maturity of the industry, market propaganda will also become a continuous work of the company. Special funds should be set up to strengthen the promotion of products and services, establish corporate and brand awareness, and lay the foundation for market expansion.
