Notice on Issuing the Implementation Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Vanadium Battery Energy Storage Industry

Sichuan Economic and Information Materials [2024] No. 64

To the Economic and Information Technology Bureau, Development and Reform Commission, Science and Technology Bureau, Natural Resources Department, Finance Bureau (Financial Bureau), and Energy Bureau (Office) of each city (state):

In order to further promote new industrialization, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, open up new industrial tracks, layout future new products, cultivate new quality productivity, promote the high-quality development of the vanadium battery energy storage industry, promote the pilot demonstration of vanadium battery energy storage applications, and build an industrial cluster with stable development and complete supporting facilities in the upstream, midstream and downstream industrial chains and supply chains, and build a domestic leading vanadium battery industry base, the Department of Economy and Information Technology and other 6 departments have studied and formulated the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Vanadium Battery Energy Storage Industry", which is now issued to you. Please earnestly promote its implementation in light of the actual situation.

Sichuan Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology
Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology
Office of the Financial Committee of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee
Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission
Sichuan Provincial Department of Natural Resources
Sichuan Provincial Energy Bureau
April 30, 2024

Implementation Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Vanadium Battery Energy Storage Industry

This implementation plan has been formulated in light of actual conditions in order to give full play to Sichuan's outstanding advantages of large potential for clean energy development and a good foundation for the vanadium-titanium industry, seize new opportunities for the development of new energy storage, open up new industrial tracks, accelerate the promotion of pilot demonstrations of vanadium battery energy storage applications, strengthen innovation leadership, focus on making up for shortcomings and strengthening strengths, enhance the overall competitiveness of the industry, and promote the high-quality development of the vanadium battery energy storage industry in our province.

I. Guiding Ideology

We will continue to be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the series of important instructions given by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his inspection tour in Sichuan, and the spirit of the Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 12th Provincial Party Committee, take achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality as our goal, highlight the theme of high-quality development, carry out pilot demonstrations of vanadium battery energy storage applications, accelerate the research and development of key core technologies, expand the production scale of vanadium products for energy storage, promote cost reduction and efficiency improvement in the industry, establish and improve a vanadium battery energy storage technology standard system, create a full industrial chain of "vanadium resource development-key materials-stack manufacturing-system integration-terminal application", and build an industrial cluster with stable development and complete supporting facilities in the upstream, midstream and downstream industrial chains and supply chains, promote the high-quality development of the vanadium battery energy storage industry, and help the advanced materials industry to double its quality.

II. Development Goals

By 2027, the technological level and innovation capability of the vanadium battery energy storage industry will be among the best in the country, the production capacity of vanadium resources, vanadium electrolyte, bipolar plates, electrodes and other materials and components will be greatly improved, the output of vanadium for vanadium battery energy storage will remain the highest in the country, the vanadium electrolyte production capacity will reach 200,000 cubic meters/year, the electrode material production capacity will reach 6.5 million square meters/year, the fuel cell production capacity will reach 3GW/year, and the system integration capacity will exceed 12GWh/year. We will cultivate and strengthen more than three leading enterprises with outstanding innovation capabilities and national competitiveness, the scale of the industry will reach a new level, the industrial system will be more complete, a number of pilot demonstration projects with good economic benefits and strong driving capabilities will be built, the vanadium battery industry will be concentrated and developed on a large scale, and a domestic leading vanadium battery industry base will be built.

III. Key Tasks

(I) Carry out application pilot demonstrations. Focus on various application scenarios such as the power supply side, the grid side, and the user side, and select a number of high-standard vanadium battery energy storage pilot demonstration projects in combination with the time sequence scale of new energy development in the province and the needs of the power system. Support the promotion and application of vanadium batteries in photovoltaic, wind power and other new energy power generation with energy storage, grid peak and frequency regulation, communication base station energy storage and other aspects. Accelerate pilot demonstrations in key areas, support relevant load centers in the province and areas with a solid vanadium industry foundation such as Panzhihua, Neijiang, and Leshan, build a number of vanadium battery energy storage power stations according to actual needs, actively explore technology, business models, and institutional mechanism innovations, and promote the marketization and large-scale application of vanadium battery energy storage. Strengthen the tracking, monitoring, analysis and evaluation of pilot demonstration projects to provide scientific support for the formulation of industrial policies, technical standards, and the application effects of new technologies, new products, and new solutions.

(II) Strengthen independent technological innovation. Strengthen the leading role of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, support enterprises to jointly build an integrated innovation chain of "government, industry, academia, research, application, and finance" with local governments, scientific research institutes, universities, and financial institutions, build high-level innovation platforms such as vanadium battery energy storage laboratories, pilot maturation platforms, comprehensive verification platforms, industry-education integration centers, engineering technology research centers, and technology innovation centers, and comprehensively improve the level of independent innovation. Incorporate vanadium batteries into the innovation map of the industrial chain, condense the roadmap for tackling "stuck neck" technologies in the field of vanadium battery energy storage and the list of key projects, and implement a number of scientific and technological research projects around key materials for high-performance and low-cost vanadium batteries, wide-temperature vanadium electrolytes, stack performance improvement, system integration technology, and intelligent operation and maintenance of power stations. Support the establishment of a vanadium battery energy storage development innovation alliance to help build a leading domestic vanadium battery industry highland for scientific and technological innovation.

(III) Expand the production and supply of vanadium products. Promote the development and utilization of vanadium-titanium magnetite resources such as the Honggenan mining area, support the Panzhihua area to carry out comprehensive utilization of mineral resources and green mine construction demonstration, and create a strategic base to ensure the supply of important vanadium resources in the country. Support blast furnace and non-blast furnace smelting and vanadium extraction, accelerate the construction of vanadium extraction converter projects that have been publicly announced in the steel industry, explore the development of vanadium extraction, vanadium-containing solid waste recovery and stone coal vanadium extraction technology in the blast furnace casting industry, and diversify the supply of vanadium products. Encourage vanadium product companies, vanadium electrolyte companies and battery manufacturing companies to achieve multi-faceted cooperation in resources, capital, technology and other means, promote vanadium electrolyte production companies to expand production capacity, expand and strengthen vanadium electrolyte production capacity, and build an industrial chain supply chain system of "vanadium resource development-vanadium products-vanadium electrolyte-vanadium battery energy storage".

(IV) Promote cost reduction and efficiency improvement in the industry. Improve the effective utilization rate of vanadium electrolyte, reduce the amount of vanadium used, promote cost reduction, increase capacity, and improve the economic efficiency of vanadium battery energy storage. Utilize existing research results such as the short-process preparation of vanadium electrolyte to expand the production capacity of vanadium electrolyte, accelerate the process of industrialization and scale-up, and further reduce costs and increase efficiency; improve the current density and output power of the battery stack, enhance the independent controllability of key materials such as electrodes and bipolar plates, and effectively reduce the cost of the battery stack and energy storage system. Promote innovation in business models such as financing leasing, recycling, and equity investment of vanadium electrolytes, and use financing and development models such as real estate investment trusts (REITs) and asset securitization (ABS) to reduce the initial investment costs of enterprises.