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Rise of energy storage to deal with energy crisis
From the energy structures of Germany, the United Kingdom, France and other countries, we can see that “insufficient local energy supply capacity and insufficient import stability” are almost common features, which may be the biggest internal factor that caused the energy crisis. Because of this, many countries have recently started the strategy of nationalizing energy companies to save those energy companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy.
This also shows from the side that ensuring the controllability of the energy structure and the stability of energy supply will be issues that all countries will face in the future. From a global perspective, with the development of carbon neutrality, traditional energy will gradually withdraw from the energy system, but the withdrawal of traditional energy needs to be accompanied by the rise of new energy.
The more closely linked this transformation is, the less impact energy systems and society as a whole will suffer. At this stage, one of the important technical paths to promote the transformation of the energy system is energy storaging.
“Energy storage” may be one of the hottest industries in recent years. From the data point of view, as of the end of 2021, the cumulative installed capacity of power storage projects in China has reached 46.1GW, accounting for 22% of the total size of the global market, a year-on-year increase of 30%. Among them, the cumulative installed capacity of pumped storage is the largest, at 39.8GW, a year-on-year increase of 25%.
However, it is worth noting that the proportion of pumped storage has dropped by another 3 percentage points compared with the same period last year. The increase in the current storage energy market mainly comes from new energy storaging. The cumulative installed capacity reached 5729.7MW, a year-on-year increase of 75%.
At the same time, the needs of the energy storage market have become more diverse, and short-term, long-term, frequency modulation, peak-shaving and valley-filling needs will all be met, and the development of the new storage energy industry will be more rapid in the future.
Electrochemical energy storage is developing rapidly
At present, a major focus of the development of China’s storage application market is to equip wind power and photovoltaic power plants with storage energy facilities to ensure that the green power produced can be smoothly connected to the grid.
China’s wind power and photovoltaic industries have developed for a long time, and the technology is relatively mature. However, due to the lack of suitable storage energy equipment, the phenomenon of abandoning wind and solar is very serious. According to the statistics of the Energy Bureau, in the first quarter of 2022, China’s abandoned wind power will reach 6 billion kWh, and the abandoned photovoltaic power will reach 2.4 billion kWh.
With the promulgation of relevant policies and the needs of the transformation and development of the energy market, the demand for storage energy equipment on the power side of China has begun to flourish. The advantages of flexible deployment of electrochemical storage energy, less impact from the natural environment, and short construction period have begun to emerge, and the power-side storage scene has begun to be stably implemented.
In addition to its own application advantages, electrochemical storage energy has the highest industrial chain maturity among the current new storage energy technology routes. Thanks to the development of China’s new energy automobile industry in recent years, the performance, cost, and manufacturing process of lithium-ion batteries have reached a relatively high level. The market scale of the upstream and downstream industry chain continues to expand, which has laid the foundation for the large-scale application of electrochemical energy storaging.
At the same time, electrochemical storage energy systems can also be well applied in scenarios such as homes, commercial buildings, and industrial parks, where other types of storage systems are almost impossible to build. The wide range of application scenarios is also one of the reasons why electrochemical storage energy is considered to be the mainstream energy storage technology in the future.
The energy storage market is highly competitive
The fast-growing market will inevitably attract a large number of enterprises to compete. As far as China’s current storage energy solution suppliers are concerned, there are mainly battery manufacturers, such as CATL leading in lithium top 100 battery manufacturers in China, BYD, etc.; There are also traditional manufacturers of inverters or new energy products, such as Sungrow, HyperStrong, etc.; there are also new start-up companies, such as CNTE Power.
It needs to be clear that, whether it is the Chinese market or the global market, the big cake of storage cannot be completely eaten by a few large battery manufacturers. In contrast, the business direction of start-up companies is more focused, with less historical burden, and they can better cultivate in the storage energy industry, which is the advantage of start-up companies. Some investors once said that “the traditional storage energy market is not suitable for start-up companies to enter, but in some fields of battery integration and new storage technology routes, start-up companies have opportunities from 0 to 1.”
The technical threshold of the battery industry is relatively high, and even the entrepreneurs of start-up companies often have years of industry experience. For example, Huang Shilin, chairman of CNTE Power, served as the vice chairman of CATL and has rich experience in research and development of storage systems.
It can be seen from public news reports that Huang Shilin has repeatedly expressed his optimism about the development of the storage energy market in 2019 and 2021, and has predicted that the installed capacity of new energy storage in China will reach 30GWh/year by 2025.
In August this year, Huang Shilin resigned from CATL, and CATL also responded that “Huang Shilin will put his personal career in the emerging field of ‘solar storage charging and inspection’ in the future.” After Huang Shilin took office in CNTE Power, he also became the largest shareholder of CNTE Power, accounting for about 35% of the shares.
CNTE Power was funded and established by CATL in 2019. In just three years, the registered capital has been increased from 200 million RMB to 400 million RMB. The latest change is on December 7, 2022.
At the same time, Times Nebula has put into operation multiple storage systems in Fujian, Shanghai, Guiyang and other places, including integrated solar-storage charging and inspection charging stations, large-scale storage energy power stations, and industrial and commercial storage energy power stations. The construction speed of the project is astonishing.
Product layout is related to enterprise development
On January 5, 2023, CNTE Power’s new energy storaging product line “YOSHOPO” was officially released, and CNTE Power began to enter the household storage and portable storage markets. And this also means that the company’s product line has been further improved and enriched.
With regard to the product strategic layout, there is a view that the storage energy market has diverse needs, and the products are highly complex and not standardized. It may not be realistic for a company to carry out product layout in all fields.
But as far as CNTE Power’s product line is concerned, it has indeed laid out large-scale storage power stations, industrial and commercial storage equipment, integrated charging stations for optical storage charging and inspection, and household storage and portable power station products. The following video is a detailed introduction of popular portable energy storage products.
Manufacturers of portable energy storage are concentrated in China, specifically top 100 portable power station companies in China.
As for outdoor power supply or home storage products, most of the current Chinese suppliers including top 10 energy storage battery companies are targeting the markets of other countries. China’s electricity prices are relatively low, and it has the nature of people’s livelihood protection. It will take some time for the market to open up.
However, the market in other countries is just the opposite. Whether it is policy or demand, the markets in other countries are relatively mature. At the same time, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the supply of natural gas in Europe is limited, and the demand for household storage energy in the market has soared. Relevant data show that at present, more than 90% of household storage energy in Europe is concentrated in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland.
The storage energy market in other countries is less dependent on household storage brands. In addition to Tesla, which is the only one, LG Chem, Sonnen, and Wotai Energy have good shipments. This is also a good condition for startups like CNTE Power to enter the home energy storage market.
CNTE Power has created a variety of household storage products such as high-voltage, low-voltage, and wall-mounted. The storage energy products use lithium iron phosphate batteries. Combined with hybrid inverters, APP remote management, photovoltaic modules and other modules, an intelligent small storage system can be formed, which can meet household power supply and realize smart power consumption.
From a policy point of view, the most implemented projects are still large-scale storage energy equipment equipped with wind power and photovoltaic power plants, but the profit model in this scenario is not clear; In contrast, industrial and commercial storage and household storage systems that utilize peak-valley electricity price differences and post-market services may become the most obvious areas for the value return of the energy storaging market in the future.
For enterprises, deploying products in all scenarios requires strong R&D capabilities and financial support, which is a big challenge to the company’s operating capabilities, especially in asset-heavy tracks like the storage energy industry. But from another point of view, the layout of the entire product series and the opening of the entire industry chain may also be excellent means to ensure product performance.
The prospect of the storage energy market can be said to be bright. With the profit model becoming clearer and the price difference between peak and valley in some cities further widening, the influx of energy storage companies will also become the norm. It is foreseeable that a considerable number of start-up companies in the field of energy storaging will appear in the future, and each company wants to be a leader. This is very possible. Even though battery manufacturers currently occupy most of the energy storage market, the ranking of shipments has not stabilized. Potential entrants in the storage energy industry are more threatening.
The strategic position of the storage energy industry in China has become increasingly prominent, but it is still in the blue ocean stage. During this period, the development of technology and market expansion will become the cornerstone of enterprise growth.
