China's energy storage projects continued to grow in October , and the low utilization rate of new energy storage caused concerns

By the end of 2021, China's installed capacity of energy storage will reach 42.66 million kilowatts . Among them, the installed capacity of new energy storage was 6.268 million kilowatts , a year-on-year increase of 56.4%. The new energy storage development goals planned by the provinces total more than 60 million kilowatts, which is twice the goal of reaching 30 million kilowatts by 2025 proposed in the National Energy Administration's "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage Development". (China Electricity Council's "Research Report on the Operation of New Energy Distribution and Storage") According to BAUFAR's research, the average equivalent utilization coefficient of electrochemical energy storage projects is only 12.2%, and the distribution and storage coefficient of new energy is only 6.1% . Energy is 15.3%, grid energy storage is 14.8%, and user energy storage is 28.3%. Relatively speaking, the equivalent utilization coefficients of new energy distribution and storage in North China and Northwest China are higher than those in other regions.

It is reported that in October 2022, a total of 175 power storage projects (including planning, construction and operation) were announced in China, with a total scale of 51.44GW (gigawatts). Among them, there are 141 new energy storage projects with a total scale of 10.63GW/24.48GWh .

The data shows that the number of 100-megawatt-scale new energy storage projects in October increased by 12% from September . From the perspective of technology distribution, the new energy storage projects in October are still dominated by lithium-ion batteries, accounting for 91% of the power scale.

In terms of regional distribution, new energy storage projects (including planning, construction and operation) are mainly distributed in 27 places, with Guangxi, Gansu and Shanxi ranking the top three in terms of energy storage power scale . From the perspective of technology distribution, new energy storage projects in October are still dominated by lithium-ion batteries, with a scale of 9.66GW/19.84GWh, accounting for 91% of the power scale. In addition, long-term energy storage technologies such as compressed air energy storage and all-vanadium redox flow batteries also have several 100-megawatt-scale projects under planning.

From the perspective of application distribution, the grid-side energy storage scale is the largest , reaching 7.61GW/17.35GWh , and the power scale accounts for nearly 72%, all of which are independent energy storage applications; in the power supply side energy storage, continue to use new energy to configure energy storage Application-based, solar storage and wind storage basically each account for half; user-side energy storage is almost all industrial applications.

There are still many problems in new energy distribution and storage. BAUFAR understands that it is mainly reflected in the low utilization rate of new energy distribution and storage; the scale and type of new energy distribution and storage have not been scientifically demonstrated; there are many types of new energy storage with different functions, Technological maturity and economics vary widely. Many places adopt a "one size fits all" configuration standard, and some areas use energy storage as a prerequisite for new energy construction. There are obvious differences between wind power distribution and storage and photovoltaic distribution and storage in the utilization of energy storage and the solution to wind and solar abandonment, and the requirements for homogeneous configuration of energy storage are not scientific. The decentralized configuration method cannot reflect the economies of scale, and there are common problems such as high operating costs and low efficiency, making it difficult to give full play to the role of energy storage.

Cost of new energy storage is high, and there is a lack of channeling channels; the cost of new energy storage is higher than that of thermal power flexible transformation, pumped storage and other technologies. At present, the investment cost of new energy distribution and energy storage is mainly digested internally by new energy companies, and the cost of lithium-ion batteries is superimposed, which brings greater operating pressure to new energy companies.

The new energy storage business model and electricity price mechanism need to be further improved. The income of new energy distribution and energy storage mainly comes from electric energy conversion and auxiliary services. Many market and price rules for energy storage are still to be implemented; the business model of energy storage is unstable, the return mechanism is not clear, and policy changes have a greater impact on income. For example, the capacity compensation standard for energy storage in Shandong has dropped significantly recently, which has greatly affected corporate earnings, which is not conducive to investment decisions.

The new energy storage safety management still needs to be strengthened. Foreign and domestic energy storage fire accidents show that safety issues are a key factor in the healthy and stable development of new energy storage scales. Under the pressure of high cost, some projects choose energy storage products with poor performance and low investment cost, which increases security risks. According to statistics, from January to August 2022, China's electrochemical energy storage projects had 329 unplanned shutdowns. The safety standards and management norms of electrochemical energy storage need to be further improved.