Large-scale energy storage technology in energy structure adjustment

In recent years, the scale of renewable energy development and utilization has continued to expand, and the research and application of energy storage technology has become increasingly extensive. Several major energy storage technologies, such as pumped storage, compressed air storage, lithium-ion batteries, sodium-sulfur batteries, lead-acid/lead-carbon batteries, etc., have their own advantages and disadvantages. In practical applications, it is necessary to find the right position so that different energy storage technologies can play a key role in different fields and scenarios.

The development of renewable energy is a must

The above figure shows my country's energy consumption:

In 2003, it was 1.8 billion tons of standard coal, in 2012 it was 3.6 billion tons, in 2015 it reached 4.3 billion tons, and in 2020 it will reach 4.8 billion tons, of which coal will be controlled at 4.2 billion tons.

As we all know, the massive consumption of coal is one of the causes of environmental pollution, lung cancer and other diseases in my country. Therefore, the development of renewable energy is driven by the general trend. There have been three energy revolutions in history:

In the first energy revolution, coal replaced firewood, and the British Empire seized the opportunity to dominate the world. But it also caused many problems, such as the London smog. According to incomplete statistics, more than 70% of Britain's energy structure at that time was coal.

In the second energy revolution, oil and gas replaced coal, and the United States took advantage of the opportunity to become the new world hegemon.

The third energy revolution proposed renewable energy. The CPC Central Committee proposed the strategic policy of energy revolution and energy structure adjustment in the 13th Five-Year Plan: by 2020, my country's wind power generation installed capacity will reach 250 million kilowatts, photovoltaic power generation will reach 150 million kilowatts, and solar thermal power generation will reach 5 million kilowatts.

The above are some of the planning goals of countries around the world in energy transformation. It can be seen that the popularization of renewable energy is the key to achieving low-carbon energy transformation globally. It is expected that after 2030, renewable energy will dominate the entire energy structure. As early as in a report in 2004, I proposed that renewable energy is gradually changing from auxiliary energy to dominant energy. I still hold this view today.

Why do we need “energy storage”?

The power grid has a history of more than 100 years and has operated well without energy storage, so why is "energy storage" needed now?

For example, the above picture shows an experiment in Japan: the curve in the picture shows the power output of a wind turbine at 2 a.m., and you can see that the wind power generation is not so stable, with the highest output exceeding 300 kilowatts and the lowest output less than 50 kilowatts. This is a characteristic of wind turbine power generation, which may cause great problems for the power grid. However, if there is an energy storage device, when there is a lot of power generation, the excess power will be stored as a load, and when there is less power generation, it will be discharged. Over time, an estimated value can be calculated to determine how much power is generated by the strong wind, which fundamentally solves the unstable and discontinuous characteristics of wind and solar power generation and achieves safe and stable power supply.

Furthermore, in recent years, due to the discontinuity, instability and difficulty in connecting to the grid of wind and solar power generation, the number of wind and solar power abandoned has increased. Last year, the total amount of wind, solar and water abandoned nationwide reached 130 billion kWh. What is the concept of 130 billion kWh? The amount of wind and solar power abandoned in my country last year is equivalent to the annual power generation of 1.6 Three Gorges Projects.

Therefore, energy storage can balance power generation and consumption and achieve grid stability. Large-scale energy storage technology is the core technology for achieving the popularization and application of renewable energy.

Large-scale energy storage technology is a major national need

Fortunately, in recent years, whether it is the 13th Five-Year Plan or the two sessions, the release of some documents shows that the country has begun to pay attention to energy storage:

2016.11.17 "National Energy Commission Meeting: Approved the 13th Five-Year Plan for Energy Development", pointed out that accelerating technological innovation and institutional reform is the key to promoting sustainable energy development. We must focus on breakthroughs in the development and utilization of renewable energy, especially new energy grid-connected technology, energy storage, and microgrid technology, comprehensively build "Internet +" smart energy, enhance the regulation capacity of the power grid system, increase the capacity to absorb new energy, develop advanced and efficient energy-saving technologies, and seize the commanding heights of energy technology competition.

2016.12.19 "13th Five-Year National Strategic Emerging Industries Development Plan" The State Council accelerates the development of advanced nuclear power, high-efficiency photovoltaic and solar thermal, large-scale wind power, high-efficiency energy storage, distributed energy, etc., accelerates the improvement of the economic efficiency of new energy products, and accelerates the construction of power system mechanisms, new power grids and innovation support systems that adapt to the high proportion of new energy development, promotes multi-energy complementarity and coordinated optimization, and leads the revolution in energy production and consumption.

Vigorously develop "Internet +" smart energy. Accelerate the research and development of key technologies such as distributed energy, energy storage, and smart microgrids, build an intelligent power operation monitoring and management technology platform, and build an energy Internet with coordinated development, integrated complementarity of "source-grid-load-storage-use" with renewable energy as the main body.

Some time ago, everyone must have been flooded with the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of Energy Storage Technology and Industry" jointly issued by five ministries and commissions. The guiding opinions clearly pointed out: "Apply and promote a number of energy storage technologies and products with independent intellectual property rights. Strengthen guidance and support, promote the integration of production, learning, research and application, and accelerate technology transformation. Encourage energy storage product manufacturers to adopt advanced manufacturing technologies and concepts to improve quality and efficiency, encourage innovative investment and financing models to reduce costs, and encourage participation in foreign application markets to drive the improvement of domestic equipment manufacturing levels. The focus includes 100MW-class all-vanadium liquid flow battery energy storage power stations, high-performance lead-carbon capacitor battery energy storage systems, etc."

As the first energy storage industry policy document in China, this guideline defines the development goals of the energy storage industry in the next 10 years, marking the establishment of energy storage as the main body of the power grid. The guideline encourages the parallel development of multiple technical routes and application scenarios, and proposes government guidance and market dominance, emphasizing the establishment of a compensation mechanism rather than simply providing subsidies. Qidian Research predicts that demonstration projects related to electrochemical energy storage are expected to be accelerated in the future, and multiple energy storage business models are expected to flourish.