The accelerated development of new energy industries such as photovoltaics and wind power has turned energy storage into an emerging industry. Recently, the National Energy Administration publicly solicited opinions on the "Blue Book on New Power System Development (Draft for Comment)". The "Blue Book" proposes that in order to realize the gradual transformation of the power system form from the three elements of "source network load" to the four elements of "source network load storage", energy storage will become the fourth major element of the new power system.

Liu Yong, Secretary-General of the Energy Storage Application Branch of the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association, said that by 2030, new energy storage will become rigid demand and core growth. In the future, the supply of energy storage needs to be continuously increased, and the construction of large-scale long-term energy storage needs to be put on the agenda to support the high proportion of new energy transmission and grid connection, and realize the interaction with "source grid load".

The supply of energy storage needs to continue to increase

The "Blue Book" pointed out that the new power system is an important component of the new energy system and a key carrier to achieve the goal of "dual carbon". The four elements of "load storage" have changed. This means that energy storage will become the fourth element of the new power system.

In order to build a new type of power system, the "Blue Book" formulates a "three-step" development path, which is divided into an accelerated transformation period (currently to 2030), an overall formation period (2030 to 2045), a consolidation and improvement period (2045 to 2060 ), a "progress bar" that promotes the construction of a new power system in a planned and step-by-step manner from the power source side, grid side, user side, and energy storage side.

Specifically, on the side of energy storage, during the accelerated transformation period, it is necessary to promote the large-scale development of energy storage with multiple application scenarios and multiple technology routes. Various new energy storage technology routes such as compressed air energy storage, electrochemical energy storage, and thermal energy storage coexist. Meet the system's intraday balance adjustment needs.

In the overall formation period, major breakthroughs have been made in large-scale long-term energy storage technology, and breakthroughs have been made in long-term energy storage technologies of more than 10 hours represented by mechanical energy storage, thermal energy storage, hydrogen energy, etc., and the balance of time scales above daily has been achieved adjust.

In the period of consolidation and improvement, multi-type energy storage covering the whole cycle, such as electricity storage, heat storage, gas storage, and hydrogen storage, will operate in coordination, and focus on the development of long-term energy storage such as chemical energy storage based on liquid hydrogen and liquid ammonia, and compressed air energy storage. Technical routes to meet future large-scale renewable energy regulation and storage needs at different temporal and spatial scales.

The "Blue Book" clearly states that it is necessary to promote new energy to become the main body of power generation increase. By 2030, new energy installed capacity will account for more than 40%, and power generation will account for more than 20%.

"With such a high proportion, energy storage configuration has become a rigid demand and a core increase." Liu Yong told reporters that in the future, the supply of energy storage will need to be continuously increased, and the construction of large-scale and long-term energy storage needs to be put on the agenda to support the high proportion of new energy. Outgoing and grid connection realize the interaction with "source network load".

The "Blue Book" shows that it is necessary to actively promote the large-scale application of multi-time scale energy storage and the coordinated operation of various types of energy storage, ensure the stable operation of a high proportion of new energy in the power system, and alleviate the short-term problems caused by the mismatch between new energy generation characteristics and load characteristics. , Long-term balance and regulation pressure, improve system regulation ability, support power system to achieve dynamic balance.

The industry still has difficulties to be solved

The "Blue Book" pointed out that at present, my country's power system is still facing multiple challenges such as power security and new energy consumption, including the continuous increase in the proportion of new energy installed capacity, but it has not formed a reliable replacement for power supply; the foundation for new energy consumption is not yet solid, The problem of abandoning wind and solar in some areas and some time periods is still prominent.

The volatility, intermittency, and randomness of photovoltaic and wind power make the stability of the power system face challenges, and energy storage is an important guarantee for wind and wind power consumption. New energy allocation and storage is expected to become the mainstream development model, and the increase in the proportion and duration of allocation and storage is expected to further expand the demand for energy storage.

According to public information, there are many technical routes for energy storage, including traditional pumped hydro storage, as well as new types of energy storage other than pumped hydro storage, which cover electrochemical energy storage such as lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and flow batteries. Compressed air energy storage, flywheel energy storage, molten salt energy storage, gravity energy storage, super capacitor and other technologies.

According to data from Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Alliance, as of the end of September 2022, the cumulative installed capacity of power storage projects in operation in China reached 50.3GW, a year-on-year increase of 36%. Among them, pumped storage accounted for 85.6%, new energy storage accounted for 13.2%, and molten salt heat storage accounted for 1.2%. The cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage projects reached 6663.4MW, a year-on-year increase of 78%. Lithium-ion battery energy storage accounted for the highest proportion of new energy storage, reaching 89.3%.

Liu Yong said that different energy storage technology routes have their own advantages and disadvantages, and each has performance advantages that meet specific scenarios. In recent years, great progress has been made. However, before 2030, lithium-ion battery energy storage will continue to be used in new energy storage by virtue of its flexibility. The market plays a leading role.

It is worth noting that at the 7th China Energy Storage West Forum in 2022, Liu Yafang, deputy director of the Energy Conservation and Technology Equipment Department of the National Energy Administration, said that new energy storage facilities have low utilization rates, or even "build but not use". Keywords: infrastructure, infrastructure construction, planning investment

The "Research Report on the Operation of New Energy Distribution and Storage" issued by the China Electricity Council also shows that there are still some problems in the current distribution and storage of new energy, including the low utilization rate of distribution and storage, the scale and type of distribution and storage that have not been scientifically demonstrated, and the new energy distribution and storage. The high cost of energy storage and the lack of channeling channels, the new energy storage business model and the electricity price mechanism need to be further improved.

Liu Yong believes that in order to solve the current blockages and difficulties in the energy storage market, the key is to clarify the profit model of the energy storage industry, find the driving force of marketization, and fully release the profit space of energy storage companies, so as to truly promote the development of the energy storage industry . Editor/Xu Shengpeng