Power grid companies have issued opinions on energy storage development, and the industry has ushered in a new stage.

　　2018 is generally considered to be the first year for the opening of my country's electrochemical energy storage market. According to statistics, in 2018, my country's electrochemical energy storage added 0.6GW of new capacity, a year-on-year increase of 414%. By the end of 2018, the cumulative installed capacity of my country's electrochemical energy storage market was 1,033.7MW, breaking the GW level for the first time.

　　Entering 2019, the number of energy storage projects has increased and market acceptance has continued to improve. At the beginning of the year, State Grid Corporation of China and China Southern Power Grid Company successively issued guiding opinions to promote the development of energy storage, sending a positive signal to the development of the energy storage industry.

　　Some industry experts believe that in the future, the main customer of energy storage will still be the power grid industry. It is not only driven by project demand, but also by the development, application and improvement of energy storage technology. With the rapid development of power grid energy storage, it will gradually mature and stabilize, and grid-side energy storage will be greatly developed. With the continuous increase in the proportion of new energy power generation, the positive role of energy storage in solving the problem of new energy access to the power grid may become a necessary demand.

　　Electrochemical Energy Storage after 2025

　　The market size will reach 100 billion

　　According to incomplete statistics from the Energy Storage Committee of the China Energy Research Association and the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance (CNESA) Global Energy Storage Project Database, the scale of electrochemical energy storage projects put into operation in China in 2018 was 1.0185 GW/2.9123 GWh, 2.6 times the total scale in 2017. Professional institutions predict that the market share of commercial energy storage will increase rapidly after 2020. Forecasts from RCESIP (Research Center for Energy Storage Industry Policy) show that China's cumulative installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage is expected to reach 24 GW in 2025, and the market share will enter the 100 billion level.

　　This means that China's electrochemical energy storage industry has truly entered an era of large-scale and rapid development. The driving force behind this is undoubtedly the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of Energy Storage Technology and Industry" issued by five ministries in October 2017.

　　In 2018, the industry has truly felt the stimulating power of the policy, so this document and the supporting policies to be introduced in the future will continue to promote the rapid development of China's electrochemical energy storage industry.

　　From a global perspective, the electrochemical energy storage industry has also entered a new era. By the end of 2018, the global cumulative installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage had reached 4.8683 GW/10.7392 GWh, with a year-on-year increase of 65%, a significant acceleration.

　　According to statistics from Mercom Capital Group, a US clean energy and technology consulting firm, global venture capital investment in energy storage companies increased by 19% in 2018, with total corporate financing reaching US$850 million. The number of companies that received venture capital in energy storage increased from 30 to 49 in 2018.

　　In the energy storage industry chain, lithium battery companies and energy storage system companies have become the most watched companies. Among the top five energy storage companies in terms of financing amount in 2018, three are lithium battery companies and two are energy storage system companies. Among them, the solid-state battery company QuantumScape topped the list of energy storage companies in 2018 with a financing of US$100 million.

　　The energy storage industry will enter a new stage

　　In China's rapidly developing energy storage application industry, the structural distribution has undergone significant changes, from being mainly on the user side before 2017 to being mainly on the grid side.

　　Based on the results of State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Company's innovative research on shared energy storage applications, three new energy storage and power generation companies in Qinghai recently signed a contract to provide shared energy storage peak-shaving auxiliary services, marking the start of a market-based trading pilot for shared energy storage peak-shaving auxiliary services in the province. This is also the first time that such a trading pilot has been carried out in the domestic energy industry.

　　It is understood that the three companies that signed the contract are Luneng Group Qinghai Branch, Guodian Longyuan Qinghai Branch and Guotou New Energy Investment Co., Ltd. According to the signed contract, the three companies agreed to conduct a pilot transaction between surplus photovoltaic power and shared energy storage from April 21 to April 30, and it is expected that the transaction volume will be 500,000 kWh to 1 million kWh.

　　According to statistics from the CNESA energy storage project database, the scale of grid-side energy storage newly put into operation in 2018 (excluding energy storage projects that are planned, under construction, and being debugged) was 206.8 MW, accounting for 36% of the country's newly put into operation in 2018, ranking first among all types of energy storage applications.

　　The rise of grid-side energy storage stems from the grid's "rigid need" for energy storage. Liu Yong, secretary general of the Energy Storage Application Branch of the China Chemical and Physical Power Sources Association, believes that there is a large frequency fluctuation risk in the power system (such as the risk of large power loss due to large-capacity DC and large-capacity units), and if the system is relatively small or the primary frequency regulation capability of the units in the system is relatively insufficient (such as large-scale new energy access, etc.), fast charging and discharging equipment such as energy storage is needed to help ensure the safe and stable operation of the system.

　　Liu Yong believes that building energy storage power stations can alleviate some of the power supply gaps in the power grid, improve the utilization efficiency of equipment, and delay the investment in power grid construction required to meet short-term maximum loads.

　　Among many energy storage technology routes, the response time of electrochemical energy storage devices is in the millisecond level, which has great technical advantages over conventional power regulation methods such as hydropower and thermal power. Battery energy storage power stations have strong load tracking capabilities, fast response speed, precise control, and dual functions of bidirectional regulation and peak-shaving, making them an important peak-shaving power source.

　　Judging from the distribution of grid-side energy storage projects in 2018, the grid-side energy storage market in Jiangsu and Henan has exploded, with the scale of operations in the year ranking among the top in the country and attracting the most attention from the market. Projects in Hunan, Gansu and Qinghai are gradually being released, which is worth looking forward to.

　　It is worth noting that according to incomplete statistics from professional institutions, the scale of power supply side energy storage projects under construction and put into operation in 2018 is expected to exceed 150 MW. In terms of energy storage project types, frequency regulation energy storage projects are the most numerous and have the largest cumulative scale, followed by "renewable energy + energy storage" projects, while peak regulation energy storage projects are few and far between.

　　In 2019, driven by various forces and national policies, the energy storage industry will enter a new stage of development. Some experts suggest that relevant national departments should further strengthen the top-level design of the energy storage industry and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the energy storage industry. The energy storage industry should aim to improve development quality, overall efficiency and increase the comprehensive benefits of enterprises, study and formulate an overall development strategy for the energy storage industry, improve the policy system and mechanism, incorporate the application and promotion of energy storage technology into the energy development planning evaluation index system, promote the transformation of my country's energy structure and improve the efficiency of the energy system.

　　It can be foreseen that the energy storage industry cluster will have both opportunities and challenges. The opportunities mainly include three aspects. First, the development needs of the energy revolution, especially the large-scale development of renewable energy, which has a huge demand for energy storage; second, the policy dividends brought by the reform of the national power system and power market; third, the early accumulation of energy storage technology and industry has laid the foundation for rapid development and is approaching the critical point of industry explosion.

　　The challenges we face also come from many aspects. First, the multiple values ​​of energy storage have not been fully reflected in the current price system. The price compensation mechanism for energy storage has not been fully established. It will take some time to establish a market-based trading mechanism and price formation mechanism for flexible resources such as energy storage. Second, energy storage technology itself still needs to be improved, especially in terms of mastering independent intellectual property rights and core key technologies. Some key technologies or components of energy storage are not yet mastered. Third, the cost and safety of energy storage products still need to be improved.