Recently, JinkoSolar has signed strategic cooperation agreements with Guoxuan Hi-Tech and Ningde Times, taking the business cooperation model of "photovoltaic + lithium = energy storage" to new heights and feverishness.
Photovoltaic enterprises and lithium enterprises, strategic cooperation in the energy storage business or even the establishment of joint ventures, is no longer strange.
In November 2014, Sunshine Power and Samsung SDI set up a joint venture energy storage company with a registered capital of 130 million yuan and a total investment of 260 million yuan, with Samsung SDI holding 65% and Sunshine Power holding 35%.
In April 2019, Crestec and Ningde Times established a joint venture energy storage company with a registered capital of 200 million yuan, Ningde Times holding 51% and Crestec holding 49%.
In April 2019, Trina Solar and Penghui Energy established a joint venture energy storage company with a registered capital of 300 million yuan, with Penghui Energy holding 51% and Trina Solar holding 49%.
In September 2020, Atos introduced BYD as a strategic investor.
In June 2021, Linyang Energy and EVERLIGHT set up a joint venture energy storage company, with a registered capital of 100 million yuan, with EVERLIGHT holding 65% and Linyang Energy holding 35%, investing no more than 3 billion yuan to build energy storage battery projects, mainly producing lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Recently, the energy storage industry exploded as expected, from overseas large energy storage, to overseas home energy storage, and then to domestic power generation side energy storage, for the hands of the market and channel resources of photovoltaic companies, especially the module or inverter giant, it is logical to take the energy storage business orders is a matter of course.
Taking AT&S as an example, as of June 30, 2021, the total global energy storage project reserves are about 19,262 MWh, of which: 1,501 MWh of energy storage projects under construction, 800 MWh of energy storage projects in the late stage of project development, and 16,961 MWh of project reserves in the early stage of project development, and are mainly located in North America and Latin America.
In addition, the energy storage projects for which SunPower will provide overall solutions in the first half of 2021 include: 100MW/100MWh energy storage power plant in Mendy, UK, power allocation project of Qinghai ultra-high voltage transmission base, and the largest PV bidding supporting energy storage project in Inner Mongolia, etc.
Currently, the supply of lithium industry is tight, the upstream quality lithium resources are relatively "scarce", "in-volume" photovoltaic companies suffer from supply chain stability, especially for the strategic development of energy storage business of photovoltaic giants, the choice of suitable lithium partners, is particularly important. Especially important.
Here is a list of five criteria for PV giants to choose a lithium partner, or whether the cooperation will ultimately be successful five criteria, for reference only. At the same time to meet these five standards of lithium companies, naturally, the PV giants to develop energy storage business of high-quality suppliers: (1) has a square or blade phosphate phosphate phosphoric acid, or the blade phosphoric acid.
(1) with square or blade lithium iron phosphate battery mature technology and mass production experience (such as more than 1GWh), especially for large energy storage of large capacity (such as more than 200Ah), long endurance (such as more than 6000 cycles ) battery.
(2) For home energy storage, industrial and commercial energy storage, grid-side energy storage, power generation side of large container energy storage and other different types of energy storage, in the system development and integration of certain technologies and experience.
(3) Have strong financial strength to achieve a stable upstream supply chain and ensure a continuous and stable supply of larger demand (e.g. 1 GWh or more), while having certain bargaining power over the upstream and thus having certain cost advantages.
(4) With a flexible market-based decision-making mechanism, the background of shareholders should not affect overseas exports, can form long-term strategic cooperation, and can further explore the establishment of joint venture energy storage companies.
(5) As lithium enterprises themselves often carry out downstream energy storage business at the same time, or have already established strategic cooperation or joint ventures with other photovoltaic counterparts, so also try to avoid direct or indirect competitive relationships or conflicts of interest.
According to the above five criteria, the domestic lithium industry's energy storage leader is not much, welcome to the right number of seats.
In the short term, the strategic cooperation between photovoltaic enterprises and lithium enterprises is more about complementary industrial resources, each taking advantage of the other's strengths.
In the long run, for the storage business larger amount of photovoltaic giant, into the upstream lithium field, to achieve "photovoltaic - lithium - energy storage" integration, to avoid upstream and downstream competition, to protect the supply chain security, may be sooner or later.
