It is said that this industry may give birth to the next CATL!

In the field of new energy, China has become a solar and wind power powerhouse, with exports of key components accounting for 70% of the world's total. Today, there is a strongly related technology that is considered to be the key to energy transformation, and that is new energy storage. In recent years, the energy storage industry has ushered in explosive development opportunities under the background of "dual carbon". According to official statistics, by 2022, China's cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage will reach 13.1GW, a year-on-year increase of 128%, accounting for 21.9%. By the end of September 2023, the cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage will reach 25.3GW, and the proportion will rise to 33.5%. It is predicted that by 2030, the installed capacity of new energy storage is expected to reach 150GW, and the space for fully marketized energy storage will exceed 1.2 trillion yuan.

The core of energy storage is to realize the movement of energy in time and space, which is essentially to make energy more controllable. With the continuous innovation of power structure, the concept of long-term energy storage has gradually attracted everyone's attention. Long-term energy storage generally refers to energy storage technology of more than 4 hours. The energy storage system can realize charging and discharging cycles across days, months, and even seasons. Long-term energy storage has the potential to improve the capacity of new energy consumption and replace traditional power generation methods. It can provide sufficient flexibility resources for the power grid, effectively reduce the operation cost of the power grid, and have stronger peak-valley arbitrage and market profitability. Among the many technical paths of long-term energy storage, liquid flow batteries have attracted much attention from the capital market. Unlike traditional batteries, the electric energy of liquid flow batteries is stored in the electrolyte tank outside the battery. The biggest feature is that power and energy are decoupled in structure. There is no electrolyte inside the battery itself, and energy is stored in the electrolyte tank. It has intrinsic safety and long life that cannot be replaced by other electrochemical energy storage technologies, and has leading advantages in site selection, scale, capacity, environmental protection, raw materials, etc.

In 2022, the industrialization of liquid flow batteries ushered in a historic breakthrough. Dalian Rongke Energy Storage successfully connected the world's first 100MW (megawatt) liquid flow battery energy storage power station to the grid. In addition, the "Twenty-five Key Requirements for Preventing Power Production Accidents (2022 Edition)" issued by the National Energy Administration proposed that medium and large electrochemical energy storage power stations should not use ternary lithium batteries and sodium-sulfur batteries, and should not use cascaded power batteries. Driven by multiple factors, liquid flow batteries are unanimously optimistic about becoming the most promising seed player that can compete with lithium batteries! With the trillion-level market prospect in the future, a group of cities and leading companies with both strength and conditions have emerged across the country. They have emerged and worked together to create the next new energy industry capital (Ningde, Fujian), the next CATL!

Sichuan

There are several major technical schools of flow batteries, including all-vanadium, iron-chromium, zinc-bromine, zinc-iron, all-iron, and aqueous organic, among which all-vanadium flow battery technology and market are the most mature. In 2022, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology and other five departments jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of the Vanadium and Titanium Industry". By 2025, Sichuan Province will form a development pattern with a reasonable layout, prominent brands, high level of intelligence, green, low-carbon and sustainable development, and a world-class vanadium and titanium new materials cluster. Support steel companies to increase the application of vanadium, promote the application of vanadium in non-steel fields such as vanadium batteries, and support the "new energy + energy storage" vanadium battery energy storage demonstration. Accelerate the construction of the largest vanadium liquid flow production base in western China and the largest vanadium battery (power station) preparation and integration base in western China. Sichuan occupies the largest vanadium ore resources and has nurtured outstanding companies such as Weilide, Vanadium Titanium Co., Ltd., and Tianfu Energy Storage.

Hebei

In 2023, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Hebei Province, Chengde Municipal People's Government, National Vanadium Titanium Industry Alliance, Hesteel Group, and Beijing Jianlong Heavy Industry Group jointly hosted the China Chengde 2023 Vanadium Titanium Industry Chain Docking Conference to gather advantageous vanadium and titanium resources and strive to build the "China Vanadium Valley" - the National All-vanadium Liquid Flow Battery Energy Storage Industry Base. Chengde Xinxin Vanadium Titanium Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd., as a leading enterprise, will join hands with the Geo-Mineral Group and Fengning County Government to promote the all-vanadium liquid flow energy storage technology industry project.

Hunan

In July 2023, the Hunan Flow Battery Technology Development Forum and the Hunan Battery Industry Association Flow Branch Establishment Conference, guided by the Hunan Provincial Energy Bureau and organized by the Hunan Battery Industry Association and other units, were held in Changsha. The establishment of the Flow Battery Branch will open up the industry-university-research channel, promote collaborative innovation of the entire industry chain and value chain of Hunan flow batteries, accelerate the integration of the "double chains", and build the flow industry into a new highlight of Hunan's energy storage industry. Hunan universities such as Central South University, Hunan Agricultural University, and Hunan University have a profound accumulation in the field of flow batteries. Among them, Professor Liu Suqin of Central South University has achieved major breakthroughs in scientific research, technological research and industrialization; Hunan has introduced Beijing Xingchen, Shenzhen Zhonghe, Jiangsu MiG and others to jointly build a full industry chain; the executive chairman unit Hunan Yinfeng is in a relatively leading position in the industry.

Kaifeng, Henan

In recent years, Kaifeng City has taken the energy storage industry as a strategic pillar industry, actively developed all-vanadium liquid flow batteries and energy storage industries, and built the country's largest all-vanadium liquid flow battery energy storage demonstration power station. "Kaifeng Times" has become the third in the country, the fifth in the world, and the only company in Henan Province that has mastered a full set of all-vanadium liquid flow battery production technology. Kaifeng Municipal Party Committee Secretary Gao Jianjun presided over a special meeting and required "to promote the faster and better development of the all-vanadium liquid flow battery industry with strategic thinking and foresight, and inject new vitality and new impetus into Kaifeng's high-quality development." Mayor Li Xiangyu pointed out in the "Government Work Report" that "we will expand the energy storage industry, support the creation of the Biandong Energy Storage Valley, and accelerate the construction of all-vanadium liquid flow energy storage demonstration and other projects." While focusing on improving the production capacity of Kaifeng Times, we will introduce supporting enterprises such as Henan Huijie Materials and Henan Mingkuo Technology, build Jiangsu Miger Carbon Felt, Shenzhen Ruigesheng Plate Frame, Cover Plate Supporting and other projects, accelerate the localization of upstream supporting components such as carbon felt, plate frame, liquid storage tank, etc. Relying on Kaifeng Times, we will make forward-looking layout around the four major sections of the full industry of all-vanadium liquid flow batteries, carbon transformation and new materials industry, expansion of comprehensive energy services, and quality upgrade of energy storage valley, and carry out precise investment promotion and investment promotion of the entire industrial chain projects, and gradually build Kaifeng production bases for the four core components of all-vanadium liquid flow bipolar plates, proton membranes, carbon felt, and electrolytes. Lou Yangsheng, Secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, pointed out that we must firmly innovate, cultivate core competitive advantages, and build a "Kaifeng Times" that can rival CATL!

Suqian, Jiangsu

In October 2023, Suqian Times Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd. (Suqian Times), a developer of liquid flow energy storage batteries, completed a round A financing of 100 million yuan. This round of financing was led by Hillhouse Ventures (GL Ventures), followed by Bangsheng Capital, Su Venture Capital, and Industrial Development Venture Capital. Founded in 2021, Suqian Times Energy Storage is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development and production of aqueous organic liquid flow energy storage batteries. It has core technologies such as aqueous organic liquid flow batteries and ion exchange membranes. At present, the company's first phase of an annual production line of 2GWh has been put into production, and the production of aqueous organic liquid flow batteries has been realized throughout the entire industry chain. With Hillhouse's attention and capital support, plus Suqian Liansheng, the capital listed company behind Suqian Times, the next CATL may not necessarily be the "Suqian Times"!