Cao Renxian: Deep integration of photovoltaic energy storage and hydrogen production has great potential in the future

The cost of photovoltaic power generation is lower than that of coal-fired power, nuclear power, and gas-fired power. Photovoltaic hydrogen production will be popularized in 2025, photovoltaic components will be accelerated, photovoltaic + will be a very critical market in the next five years, and applications will gradually become diversified... This series of important keywords will undoubtedly inject a strong shot into the future photovoltaic industry and even the smart energy industry!

This is also the main content of the report titled "China Photovoltaic 2025" delivered by Cao Renxian, Vice Chairman of the China Power Supply Society and Chairman of Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd., at the theme forum of the 13th (2019) International Solar Photovoltaic and Smart Energy (Shanghai) Forum of SNEC on June 3, 2019. He said that photovoltaic power generation will become China's main energy source in 2025.

One of the key words in the report: When will China abandon coal?

Having studied renewable energy for 25 years, Cao Renxian has always been very determined, whether at the National People's Congress or at international forums such as the Shanghai SNEC exhibition. He believes that if China's new energy is to develop rapidly, a timetable for abandoning coal must be drawn up.

In the report, Cao Renxian listed the timetable for some countries in the world to abandon coal in the next 20 years: France in 2021; Britain, Italy and Ireland in 2025; Canada, Finland, Hungary, Spain and other six countries will definitely abandon coal in 2030.

Cao Renxian said that "rich in coal, poor in oil, and little gas" is the current situation facing my country's energy development, and we should face it correctly. "Rich in coal does not mean that we must dig up all the coal, nor does it mean large-scale mining and use of fossil energy. It is precisely because we are rich in coal that we should keep more coal."

Keyword 2 of the report: Radical and conservative

There are still six years until 2025. As for the future development of the photovoltaic industry, Cao Renxian predicts that the global photovoltaic installed capacity will grow steadily, with an average annual increase of about 160GW. "This is my optimistic prediction," said Cao Renxian.

After the "531" last year, my country's photovoltaic installed capacity has stabilized. Although domestic policies have been delayed a lot this year, "it is entirely possible that the photovoltaic installed capacity will be 40GW to 45GW in 2019. Our environment will definitely force us to move forward."

Cao Renxian said that the applications for the first batch of grid-parity projects were very enthusiastic. "I think there will be a second batch of grid-parity projects this year, so I am full of confidence in China's photovoltaic power generation in 2025."

Keyword 3 of the report: Low-cost innovation

In the past year, Cao Renxian has done a lot of work on the technical upgrading of components.

In his report, he stated that in terms of hardware, from components to even cables, low-cost innovation must be carried out. This innovation can be said to be at all costs, with deep insights and deep cost reductions.

"By 2025, we must not only achieve parity, but also significantly lower prices than fossil energy in most regions." Cao Renxian also clearly calculated the prices. The current approved price of natural gas is more than 60 cents, and the price of nuclear power is more than 40 cents. Therefore, it is the responsibility of photovoltaic people to reduce hardware costs from the system industry chain.

There is still a lot of room for improvement in the optimization of the system for future photovoltaic power plants. "In addition to big data and intelligent operation and maintenance, there may be a greater ratio of AC and DC capacity in the future, and planned partial abandonment of solar power may actually increase the profitability of power plants."

"We need to move from grid 1.0 to 3.0 and be able to deeply couple with energy storage to respond to various power quality requirements of the entire grid," said Cao Renxian.

Report keyword 4: Photovoltaic hydrogen production

Cao Renxian believes that the deep integration of photovoltaics and energy storage, and photovoltaic hydrogen production will have great potential in the future.

Is it possible for photovoltaic hydrogen production to become a major energy storage link? Cao Renxian's answer is very certain, it is entirely possible.

"Now the cost of the power grid accounts for 1 yuan, and the equipment for the power grid exchange accounts for 1 yuan. If hydrogen is directly produced through power conversion devices in places with good sunlight in the west, a 10MW photovoltaic power station can produce 10 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour. The key issue is how to solve the subsequent storage and transportation problems!"

Finally, Cao Renxian made an assumption that in places with better light resources, such as Golmud, a small hydrogen production city could be built in a 25-kilometer square production area, which can produce 1 million tons of hydrogen a year. 1 million tons of hydrogen is enough for use in the next few years, without any carbon dioxide emissions and without any pollution.

According to preliminary calculations, in places with good sunlight, the electricity cost of hydrogen production is about 0.15 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is significantly lower than the current electricity cost of hydrogen production.