Shangluo City focuses on cultivating energy storage industry chains such as all-vanadium liquid flow

As an important part of the energy sector, energy storage is an important technology and basic equipment for building a new power system, and an important support for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. The energy storage industry chain is rich in content and has extremely high added value. It includes traditional energy storage, such as pumped storage, and new energy storage, such as physical energy storage and chemical energy storage. It is a strategic emerging industry and a future industry.

In recent years, Shangluo City has made great efforts to cultivate the energy storage industry by taking advantage of its unique resource advantages. At present, there are 8 pumped-storage power station projects under construction or planned in the city, with a total investment of more than 100 billion yuan and an annual output value of nearly 20 billion yuan. In terms of new energy storage, with the completion and commissioning of BYD electrolyte and diaphragm paper, Hain battery materials and power batteries, Wuzhou Mining vanadium batteries, Luonan Hydrogen Energy Storage Industrial Park, Shangnan Vanadium Energy Storage Industrial Park and other projects, especially the recent successful construction of Shaanxi Province's first green electricity hydrogen production and application demonstration project in Shangluo, it marks that Shangluo City has begun to accelerate its entry into the new track of the energy storage industry.

Shangluo has unique location and resource advantages for developing the energy storage industry. Shangluo City is located in the center of the country and southeast of the Hu Huanyong Economic Line. Surrounding it are five cities with a population of over 10 million, namely Xi'an, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Chongqing and Chengdu, which have huge demand for electricity. There are about 72,500 rivers and tributaries in the territory. In addition to the five sites under construction and included in the national pumped-storage power station plan, there are still more than 10 sites that can be directly used as the lower reservoir of the pumped-storage power station. The reserves of vanadium ore are leading in the country, and the production capacity of vanadium pentoxide, the main material of vanadium batteries, accounts for about 52% of the country. The photovoltaic projects completed and under construction amount to 1,500 megawatts, which is the best resource for green hydrogen energy storage. There are more than 100 existing mineral processing companies, and the mines that have not yet been backfilled are natural production spaces for air compression energy storage.

After investigation, it was found that the energy storage industry in Shangluo City still has the following problems: First, the construction and approval of pumped storage projects takes a long time and requires large investments, and the early support work needs to be strengthened; second, there are only four 330 substations and no 750 substations, and the N-1 pass rate of 110 main transformers is only 85.71%, which is lower than the 100% level of cities in the province. The regional grid structure and power export channels need to be improved; third, there are relatively few energy storage demonstration projects, and the application scenarios of energy storage need to be expanded; fourth, the relevant departments need to improve their understanding and attention to the energy storage industry, and the relevant support policies and service mechanisms need to be improved.

President Wang Shuguo of Xi'an Jiaotong University said that by the end of this century, petrochemical energy will be almost exhausted, and the new energy industry will be a major issue for the country. The energy storage industry is an important support for the construction of a new energy system, and the country has positioned the energy storage industry as a future industry. As far as Shangluo is concerned, the development of the energy storage industry is at a once-in-a-lifetime historical opportunity, which is of great significance to building China's health and wellness capital, building a beautiful China pilot zone, and implementing the ecological protection of the Qinling Mountains. To this end, it is recommended that:

First, we should strengthen top-level planning and design, and strengthen the construction of leadership organizations. It is recommended to set up a special team for the development of the energy storage industry in the city, plan to set up municipal and county energy development bureaus as soon as possible, issue the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Energy Storage Industry" and the medium- and long-term development plan, and build a "green energy base in Northwest China" as the goal, and use 10 to 15 years to create a new benchmark city for the new energy industry. Economist Ren Zeping said in his 2024 New Year's Eve speech that not investing in new energy now is like not investing in real estate 20 years ago. If we don't make great efforts to plan and layout now and take advantage of the situation, then others will overtake us, and once others start, our resource advantages will be difficult to transform into industrial advantages.

Second, accelerate the construction of external channels to ensure smooth energy export. It is recommended to strive for the province to list Shangluo as the northwest new energy consumption and power grid dispatching center, plan and build a 750 substation and a dedicated line connecting Guanzhong 750 power grid in Shangzhou or Danfeng as soon as possible, and accelerate the construction of Zhen'an and Shanyang 330 substations and 330 lines supporting high-speed rail to form a regional power grid ring to provide guarantee for the city's new energy export.

Third, vigorously cultivate the entire production chain and form industrial agglomeration advantages as soon as possible. Focus on the upstream link of the energy storage industry chain - equipment manufacturing, accelerate the promotion of investment in raw materials such as vanadium batteries and lithium batteries, as well as compressors, hydrogen production equipment, energy storage converters and other manufacturing projects; keep a close eye on the midstream of the energy storage industry, diversify the development of various energy storage methods, encourage enterprises and universities to jointly build energy storage technology research and development centers or key laboratories in Shangluo, and concentrate scientific and technological resources to carry out technical research; comprehensively develop downstream industries, encourage the implementation of energy storage demonstration power station promotion work in traditional power stations, power grid companies, railways, large parks, industrial and commercial enterprises and other fields, and continuously expand application scenarios.

Fourth, strengthen project demonstration and drive, and focus on cultivating leading enterprises. Support high-tech zones and economic development zones to plan and build new energy storage industry demonstration parks, and encourage leading enterprises such as BYD and Haien to expand production scale. Consolidate the basic advantages of the vanadium energy storage industry and support Wuzhou Mining to develop into a domestic leading enterprise in the vanadium energy storage industry. Support photovoltaic enterprises such as Shaanxi Zhengtai and Zhongtian Jiayang to develop green hydrogen production, storage and use industries, extend the industrial chain, and create a "South Shaanxi Green Hydrogen Industry" business card. Appropriately advance the layout of diversified energy storage technology routes and equipment products, and promote the industrialization of new technological achievements in Shangluo. With the help of the Western Business Cooperation Mechanism, start planning a number of Shangluo and Guanzhong shared energy storage demonstration projects.

Fifth, actively reform and innovate, and strengthen policy support. For the energy storage industry to develop healthily, it is necessary to establish a stable and profitable business model. Relevant departments should accelerate the exploration and implementation of the capacity electricity price mechanism, actively explore the combination with the ecological value realization mechanism, establish an energy storage carbon credit system, innovate financial support and fiscal and tax incentive policies, provide good approval services for new energy storage power station projects, accelerate the construction of new energy storage power stations on the grid side, power supply side, and user side, and effectively give play to the cluster effect of the energy storage industry.

The energy storage industry is at the forefront of development. Shangluo has broad and fertile soil for the development of the energy storage industry, a group of visionary entrepreneurs and the energy storage fire they have planted, and the correct leadership of the municipal party committee and government. I firmly believe that Shangluo's energy storage industry will surely rise to the occasion and make Shangluo's contribution to national energy security in the future.