Recently, lithium storage projects have attracted much attention, especially the grid-side energy storage projects in Henan and Jiangsu. The total installed capacity of lithium batteries in these projects reaches 100 MWh, which can be described as "unprecedented" in China. While we are excited and happy, we also need to have a calm. The power industry is the country's basic pillar industry, its safety and reliability of equipment has strict requirements, for the promotion of power storage we need to have a rigorous and reverent attitude. There are energy storage projects does not mean that the power lithium storage technology has matured.
The biggest feeling since the industry is that people's understanding of energy storage still needs to be deepened, as shown in the following aspects.
(1) the power storage system is equivalent to the battery.
There are many applications of energy storage, such as energy storage power plants for power systems and backup power for communication base stations and data rooms. Backup power technology for communication base stations and data rooms and power battery technology are DC technology with lower technical requirements than power batteries. Power class energy storage technology contains much broader content, in addition to DC technology also includes variable current technology, grid access technology and grid scheduling and control technology. Therefore, it is not necessary to design power batteries to design power storage systems.
At present, the energy storage industry has no clear definition of what is power storage. Personally, I think the power storage system should have two characteristics: 1) the storage system can participate in grid dispatch (or the storage system stored electrical energy can feedback to the main grid); 2) can provide electrical energy services for more than one user.
(2) power storage with lithium battery performance requirements than the power battery to come low.
For this point it is difficult to give a clear judgment. The main reason is that so far there is almost no recognized successful commercial operation of power storage projects in China, so what kind of battery can meet the application of power storage is not known.
At present, the domestic is more enthusiastic about the retired power battery secondary use in power storage, and there have been some small-scale demonstration projects, the source of these projects and the real operation of the project battery is not known to the outside world.
What is interesting is that foreign well-known battery companies, such as LGC and Samsung SDI, which have several GWh projects in the field of power storage, and they are also recognized as the world's leading power battery companies, can not be found in the media to report on their laddering. Most of the foreign companies that are keen on power battery recycling are car companies, such as BMW. Therefore, retired power battery laddering application in power storage needs to be verified and observed.
(3) The lithium industry in general, "power battery" light "energy storage" phenomenon
At present, domestic lithium enterprises generally do not set up independent energy storage R & D team, energy storage R & D is generally undertaken by the power battery team in the power battery project "leisure". Even if there is an independent energy storage R & D team, the number of energy storage team will be less than the number of power team. Compared with the power battery, the technical characteristics of the power storage system are high voltage (generally designed according to the requirements of 1000Vdc) and a large number of battery cells in series and parallel. Therefore, the electrical safety and battery status monitoring of power storage systems are more complex and require dedicated research and development.
(4) The industry is optimistic in its judgment of the maturity of power storage technology.
The success of power energy storage projects needs to be evaluated from both functional and economic aspects. On the one hand, the function of the energy storage system should meet the customer's needs, such as peak-shaving, frequency regulation and other functions; in terms of economics, the energy storage system achieves cost recovery through operation within an agreed period of time, and the storage system can operate stably for a long period of time thereafter to allow the customer to gain revenue.
The functional verification of the energy storage system is relatively easy, while the economic verification takes a longer time. The economics of an energy storage system is a test of the stability of the storage system. Only long time observation records can obtain key indicators of statistical nature such as trouble-free operation time, daily maintenance cost, and dispatch success rate.
It is common to see reports in the media about the successful grid connection of so-and-so energy storage projects. Such reports give people the impression that electric energy storage technology has matured. But in fact, the successful grid connection of the energy storage system is only a verification of the functionality of the energy storage system. The economics, or stability, of the energy storage system is not yet supported by operational data.
Any technology needs a gradual growth and perfection process before it is really promoted on a large scale. Take power battery as an example, from 2009 to 2012, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information jointly promoted the "Ten Cities and Thousands of Vehicles" project, and in 2012, the State Council issued the "Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2012-2020)". After 2014, industrial policies and fiscal policies to promote the development of power batteries were released intensively. It is no exaggeration to say that the power battery is in the whole society is highly concerned, the government, industry, academia, research joint efforts, and actively promote under, after 10 years of time to achieve the basic scale application.
On the contrary, the power lithium storage. Although there is a demonstration project in Zhangbei, but the domestic power storage in general has been in an intermittent and lukewarm state in the past decade. There is no clear policy guidance and financial support for the power storage industry. The installed scale of project batteries is small and the operation is not transparent. Objectively speaking, from the development history of domestic power lithium storage technology, lithium storage does not currently have the ability to be applied on a large scale in the power sector.
Entering 2018, the overcapacity of the power battery industry is becoming more and more serious, and many lithium companies will take power storage as their target market. At this moment, we need an extra sense of responsibility and a sense of mission. What we need is a power storage market with practical benefits, not a power storage market that digests excess lithium capacity.
