Beijing, February 14th (Wang Shaoshao) - On the 13th, the National Energy Administration held a regular press conference in Beijing. Liu Yafang, Deputy Director of the Energy Conservation and Science and Technology Equipment Department, answered questions from reporters on the scale of new energy storage installations in China. She stated that the National Energy Administration has anchored the dual carbon target, vigorously strengthened macro guidance for the new energy storage industry, promoted rapid development of industry scale, driven technological innovation and diversification, and provided valuable experience for supporting the construction of a new power system.
Liu Yafang stated that one of the reasons for the sustained and rapid growth of new energy storage installed capacity in China is the proposal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, which has created good opportunities for the rapid development of energy storage. To promote the achievement of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, accelerating the construction of a new type of power system with high proportion of renewable energy has become an important task for the development of China's energy industry. Wind power and photovoltaic power generation have intermittency, randomness, and volatility. The existing power system needs to accept and absorb large-scale, high proportion, and highly volatile wind and photovoltaic power generation. It is urgent to vigorously develop various types of energy storage to make up for the flexibility adjustment capacity gap of the power system.
In the past year or so, the top-level design supporting the development of the technology industry has been continuously improved, laying a policy foundation for the rapid development of new energy storage. Liu Yafang introduced that the National Energy Administration, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, has issued a series of policies, including the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage, the Implementation Plan for the Development of New Energy Storage in the 14th Five Year Plan, the Management Standards for New Energy Storage Projects (Interim), and the Notice on Further Promoting the Participation of New Energy Storage in the Electricity Market and Dispatching Application. They have developed and constructed a national new energy storage big data platform, preliminarily established a national new energy storage industry management system, and coordinated the promotion of national new energy storage pilot demonstrations, laying a foundation for the innovative application of new energy storage technologies and the high-quality development of the industry.
At the same time, local governments and various market entities have shown a high enthusiasm for developing and constructing new energy storage, injecting vitality into the rapid development of new energy storage. Liu Yafang stated that various regions will increase their research efforts on the development of new energy storage, formulate special plans or clarify the development goals of new energy storage in relevant energy plans, and vigorously promote the development of new energy storage through provincial pilot demonstrations and subsidy policies. Energy enterprises, social capital and other investment entities have shown a high enthusiasm for investing in new energy storage, accelerating the construction and implementation progress of new energy storage projects. All provinces (regions, cities, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) in the country have also carried out research on new energy storage development policies to varying degrees.
In addition, technological breakthroughs and economic improvements have further created favorable conditions for the rapid development of new energy storage. Liu Yafang also introduced that in recent years, the development speed of new energy storage technologies in the country has been continuously improving, with a significant increase in energy density, power density, and cycle life. Safety prevention and control technologies and measures have been continuously improved. The energy density of lithium-ion batteries for energy storage has more than doubled compared to ten years ago, and the power density has increased by about 50%. Currently, a relatively complete industrial chain has been formed; Technologies such as flow batteries, sodium ion batteries, compressed air energy storage, and flywheel energy storage are developing rapidly. Despite the rapid increase in upstream raw material prices, the cost of energy storage battery systems dominated by lithium-ion batteries is still showing a downward trend. The new energy storage industry is currently in the transitional stage from research and development demonstration to commercialization, and is gradually forming an industrialization system.
"The new energy storage characteristics complement the advantages of traditional energy storage technologies, providing more choices for the construction of new power systems." In Liu Yafang's view, compared to traditional pumped storage, new energy storage has flexible site selection, short construction period, fast and flexible response, and diverse application scenarioses. It can form complementary advantages with pumped storage and solve the strong randomness and high volatility problems brought by the integration of new energy into power systems in different scenarioses.
Currently, China has established a preliminary management system for the new energy storage industry, and the installed capacity of new energy storage is growing at an accelerated pace. According to data reported by provincial energy regulatory authorities, Liu Yafang introduced that as of the end of 2022, the installed capacity of new energy storage projects in operation nationwide reached 8.7 million kilowatts, with an average energy storage time of about 2.1 hours, an increase of over 110% compared to the end of 2021. From a provincial perspective, the top 5 provinces with accumulated installed capacity are Shandong 1.55 million kilowatts, Ningxia 900000 kilowatts, Guangdong 710000 kilowatts, Hunan 630000 kilowatts, and Inner Mongolia 590000 kilowatts. The top 5 provinces with newly installed capacity ranking are Ningxia 890000 kilowatts, Shandong 890000 kilowatts, Hubei 530000 kilowatts, Hunan 500000 kilowatts, and Inner Mongolia 330000 kilowatts.
"The diversified development trend of new energy storage technologies is obvious, with lithium-ion batteries as the main focus." Liu Yafang said that as of the end of 2022, lithium-ion battery energy storage accounted for 94.5% of the country's new energy storage installations, compressed air energy storage 2.0%, flow battery energy storage 1.6%, lead-acid (carbon) battery energy storage 1.7%, and other technological routes 0.2%. From the perspective of the proportion of newly installed technologies in 2022, lithium-ion battery energy storage technology accounts for 94.2%, still in an absolute dominant position. The proportion of newly added compressed air energy storage and liquid flow battery energy storage technologies reaches 3.4% and 2.3% respectively, with a significantly accelerated growth rate. In addition, various energy storage technologies such as flywheels, gravity, and sodium ions have also entered the engineering demonstration stage.
