The “Government Work Report” proposes to develop new energy storage. New energy storage refers to new energy storage technologies other than pumped hydro energy storage, including electrochemical energy storage, compressed air energy storage, flywheel energy storage, heat storage, cold storage, hydrogen storage and other technologies. Under the new situation, there are major opportunities to accelerate the layout of new energy storage industries.

Obvious advantages and broad prospects

In recent years, my country’s new energy has maintained a good momentum of rapid development, high proportion of utilization, and high-quality consumption. As of the end of last year, the proportion of renewable energy installed capacity in the country’s total power generation capacity exceeded 50%, historically surpassing thermal power installed capacity, and wind power and photovoltaic installed capacity exceeded 1 billion kilowatts. Renewable energy power generation accounts for about one-third of society’s electricity consumption, and wind power and photovoltaic power generation maintain double-digit growth.

According to estimates, my country’s installed capacity of new energy sources such as wind power and solar power will reach billions of kilowatts in 2060. If part of the electric energy is stored in a warehouse like ordinary commodities, and is sent out when users need it and stored in when it is not needed, the real-time balance of the power system can be maintained. Energy storage facilities are this important “warehouse”.

As the proportion of new energy power generation continues to increase, the power system has an increasingly strong demand for new energy storage. Among energy storage facilities, the most widely used, mature and economical one is the pumped storage power station. However, it has high requirements on geographical conditions and a long construction period, making it difficult to deploy flexibly. New energy storage has a short construction period, simple and flexible site selection, and strong adjustment capabilities, which complements the advantages of pumped hydro storage.

Experts say that new energy storage is a key part of the construction of new energy systems. With the rapid growth of new energy storage installed capacity, its role in promoting the development and consumption of new energy and the safe and stable operation of power systems has gradually emerged. Pan Wenhu, director of the Power Dispatching Control Center of State Grid Wuhu Power Supply Company, said: “In recent years, the construction of energy storage power stations in Wuhu, Anhui has been accelerating. Last year, 13 new energy storage power stations were added in Wuhu City, with a grid-connected capacity of 227,300 kilowatts. In February this year, Various energy storage power stations in Wuhu City have participated in more than 50 batches of regional power grid peak shaving, consuming about 6.5 million kilowatt hours of new energy power, playing an important role in ensuring the power balance of the power grid and the consumption of new energy power during peak load periods.”

Experts said that the “14th Five-Year Plan” period is an important strategic opportunity period for the development of new energy storage. my country has reached the world’s leading level in lithium-ion batteries, compressed air energy storage and other technologies. Facing world energy technology competition, it is time to support green and low-carbon technological innovation and accelerate the construction of new energy storage technology innovation systems.

Focus on green and low-carbon transformation

At the beginning of 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for the Development of New Energy Storage during the “14th Five-Year Plan”", which clarified that by 2025, new energy storage will enter the stage of large-scale development from the early stage of commercialization, with large-scale commercial capabilities. application conditions.

With favorable policies, the diversified and high-quality development of new energy storage has achieved remarkable results. “New energy storage has increasingly become a key technology for my country’s construction of new energy systems and new power systems, an important direction for cultivating emerging industries and an important starting point for promoting green and low-carbon transformation of energy production and consumption.” Deputy Director of the Energy Conservation and Technology Equipment Department of the National Energy Administration Director Bian Guangqi said.

As of the end of last year, the cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage projects that had been completed and put into operation across the country reached 31.39 million kilowatts/66.87 million kilowatt hours, with an average energy storage time of 2.1 hours. From the perspective of investment scale, since the “14th Five-Year Plan”, new new energy storage installed capacity has directly promoted economic investment of more than 100 billion yuan, further expanding the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and becoming a new driving force for my country’s economic development.

As new energy storage installed capacity grows, new technologies continue to emerge. Since last year, construction has started on multiple 300-megawatt compressed air energy storage projects, 100-megawatt flow battery energy storage projects, and megawatt-level flywheel energy storage projects. New technologies such as gravity energy storage, liquid air energy storage, and carbon dioxide energy storage have been launched. The implementation of technology has shown an overall diversified development trend. By the end of 2023, 97.4% of lithium-ion battery energy storage has been put into operation, 0.5% of lead-carbon battery energy storage, 0.5% of compressed air energy storage, 0.4% of flow battery energy storage, and other new energy storage Technology accounts for 1.2%.

“New energy storage is a disruptive technology for building a high-proportion new energy power system, and we will continue to increase our deployment efforts.” Song Hailiang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China Energy Construction Group Co., Ltd., said that in terms of industry leadership, we are ahead of the curve in deploying large-scale deployment Compressed gas energy storage technology has laid out a number of innovative demonstration projects. At the same time, we focus on the large-scale safe and efficient application of electrochemical energy storage, take the lead in conducting research on key gravity energy storage technologies and equipment, and actively promote the construction of the Zhangjiakou 300 MWh gravity energy storage demonstration project.

Utilization efficiency needs to be improved

In order to meet the urgent demand for regulation capabilities of the power system, new energy storage installed capacity still needs to maintain rapid growth. As a strategic emerging industry, new energy storage is still in its initial stage of development. There are problems such as low dispatch and utilization levels and safety that needs to be strengthened.

According to industry insiders, according to the requirements of local energy authorities, many new new energy projects are equipped with energy storage power stations. However, due to insufficient active support capabilities, unclear business models, unsound management mechanisms and other issues, the utilization rate is low.

In November last year, the National Energy Administration issued the “Notice on Promoting the Grid Integration and Dispatch Application of New Energy Storage (Draft for Comments)”, which clarified the management methods, technical requirements, organizational safeguards, etc. of new energy storage grid integration and dispatch application. , is expected to improve the utilization level of new energy storage, guide the healthy development of the industry, and will have a positive impact on energy storage development in terms of power dispatching and market construction.

As an industrialization, industrialization, and commercial application technology, new energy storage has a development background based on innovation. Liu Yafang, a part-time professor at Zhejiang University and former deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of the National Energy Administration, said that as an innovation entity, enterprises should not only pay attention to the technical performance of the energy storage equipment itself, but also focus on systematic thinking, intelligent control, and intelligent operation. Investment should be increased in the intelligent control of energy storage facility operation and power market quotation, etc., to give full play to the flexible adjustment value of energy storage and achieve high-efficiency and high-profit operations.

Wang Zeshen, secretary-general of the China Chemical and Physical Power Supply Industry Association, suggested that my country’s national conditions and the development stage of the power market should be comprehensively considered, the top-level design of energy storage policies should be strengthened, research on energy storage application scenarios and cost compensation mechanisms in new power systems should be carried out, and solutions to the constraints on storage should be explored. Ideas and methods that can develop bottlenecks will promote the vigorous development of various new energy storage technologies and play an important supporting role in ensuring the safe and stable operation of new power systems. (Wang Yichen)