China's new-type energy storage sector sees accelerated development

China's installed new-type energy storage capacity has expanded rapidly, reaching 35.3 million kilowatts by the end of March 2024, soaring 210 percent from the same period last year.

As of the end of the first quarter of this year, new-type energy storage projects with a capacity of 100,000 kilowatts or more each accounted for 54.8 percent of the country's total installed capacity.

In 2023, China's newly installed new-type energy storage capacity reached approximately 22.6 million kilowatts, nearly 10 times the figure of the end of 2020.

Photo shows a view of the 300-MW compressed air energy storage station in Yingcheng, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo/Yu Jianbing)

New-type energy storage refers to energy storage technologies other than conventional pumped hydro energy storage, including electrochemical energy storage, compressed air energy storage, gravity energy storage, and so on.

New-type energy storage facilities can be seen as giant "power banks" that charge when new-energy sources generate a large volume of electricity or when the power consumption is low, and discharge at other times. Featuring flexible site selection, short construction periods, and rapid response, these "power banks" help promote the development and utilization of new energy resources and the safe and stable operation of electric power systems.

The 300-megawatt (MW) compressed air energy storage station in Yingcheng, central China's Hubei Province, started operations on April 9, 2024, turning a salt cavern located 500 meters underground into a giant "power bank" that can store electricity equivalent to the amount consumed by residents in a small and medium-sized city for five hours in an energy storage cycle.

The Fulin sodium-ion battery energy storage station commenced operations in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on May 11, 2024, marking the widespread adoption of sodium-ion battery energy storage technology for the first time in the country. Currently, the energy conversion efficiency of the sodium-ion battery energy storage system at this station exceeds 92 percent.

Sodium is more abundant and less expensive than lithium, and sodium-ion batteries perform well in improving versatility, functioning smoothly in temperatures ranging from -40 to 80 degrees Celsius, said Tang Bin, a technical expert from the Electric Power Research Institute of Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd.

China has made breakthroughs in technological innovation in terms of new-type energy storage, leading to richer application scenarios.

Currently, lithium-ion batteries account for over 95 percent of the country's new-type energy storage capacity, said He Zhao, vice president of China Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute.

Aside from the lithium-ion battery, which is the dominant type, other technical routes are being developed at an accelerated pace, He added.

Since 2023, construction has begun on multiple 300-MW-grade compressed air energy storage projects, 100-MW-grade liquid flow battery projects, and MW-grade flywheel energy storage projects. New technologies including gravity storage, liquid air storage, and carbon dioxide storage have been developed as well.

Since the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), newly installed new-type energy storage capacity in China has directly promoted investment of more than 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion), driving synergetic development of upstream and downstream industrial chains, according to China's National Energy Administration (NEA).

At present, relevant domestic companies, research institutes, and universities are continuously carrying out research on technological innovation in new-type energy storage, application layouts, and other aspects, promoting the gradual improvement of the new-type energy storage industrial system.

The new-type energy storage sector is in a stage of rapid development, and technological innovation is the key to driving progress in the sector, said Qi Hongxun, head of a research institute under China Energy Engineering Group Co., Ltd.

Qi suggested carrying out research on new materials, technologies and equipment for energy storage, promoting collaboration between enterprises, universities, research institutions and end-users, accelerating the commercialization of innovation results, and actively exploring applications of new-type energy storage.

The NEA will continuously improve the policy system for new-type energy storage, encourage technological innovation, persistently promote the progress of energy storage technologies, and continue to guide science-based allocation and utilization of new types of energy storage to support the development of the new-type energy system and the new electric power system, said Bian Guangqi, an NEA official.