The rising upstart of the energy storage track can lead the future with zinc-iron flow battery?
The rising upstart of the energy storage track can lead the future with zinc-iron flow battery?
The conflict between Russia-Ukraine conflict has intensified the energy tension. The natural gas supply cut off caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict has further pushed up the natural gas price in Europe, thus making the European electricity price soar all the way. In China, after the high temperature electricity limit last year, there was a wave of high electricity prices at the end of the year. The "time-of-use electricity price" Oolong incident occurred frequently, and the official response was negative. Behind it was people's concern about the rise of civil electricity price. According to incomplete statistics, 23 provinces and cities have issued 27 policies to improve the time-of-use electricity price mechanism.
1、 Time-of-use electricity price, an opportunity for energy storage "blowout"
In the context of achieving carbon peak and carbon neutral goals, time-sharing electricity is one of the important mechanisms to support the construction of new power systems and the sound and rapid development of new energy.
According to the statistics of CNESA on the average value of the maximum peak-valley price difference of 10kV in general industry and commerce in 2022, the overall average price difference of 31 typical provinces and cities in China is 0.7 yuan/kWh, of which a total of 16 provinces and cities are above the 1000 average value, and the highest average value of the peak-valley price difference in Guangdong Province (five cities in the Pearl River Delta) is 1.259 yuan/kWh. In the future, as the intra-day fluctuation of the power system increases, the peak-valley price difference is expected to expand.
For general industrial and commercial users, the use of energy storage equipment to charge when the electricity price is low and discharge when the electricity price is high is one of the main driving forces. With the increasingly obvious "double high" characteristics of the power system, the peak-valley price difference under the time-of-use tariff policy continues to increase, providing important support for the economic improvement of the user-side energy storage project.
In addition to stimulating the economy of general industrial and commercial users, time-of-use electricity price also shares the pressure of power grid cost and distribution system capital cost. With the vigorous development of electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial process electrification, the time-of-use electricity price of distribution will help to manage the cost of distribution system.
In 2021, Denmark readjusted and modified the pricing method of distribution companies. According to the Danish government department, this revision is aimed at supporting the transition from distribution network to new grid to meet the growing demand for electrification of electric vehicles and other terminals.
That is to say, the commercial potential and value of time-of-use electricity price is far greater than we think.
With the intensive introduction of domestic energy storage policies, the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" for Renewable Energy pointed out that the proportion of renewable energy power generation in the increase of electricity consumption in the whole society will exceed 50% in 2025. New energy storage and shared energy storage will become the key work of provincial and municipal governments in 2023. In the context of clear requirements for distribution and storage at the power generation side, the application of energy storage terminals that have strengthened the time-of-use electricity price and the peak-valley electricity price difference provides a huge business opportunity.
2、 Competition of energy storage technology in terminal application
It has gradually become a global trend for energy storage to enter the industrial and commercial application field. 26 provinces and cities across the country have planned the installation target of new energy storage during the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" period. By 2025, the total planned installed capacity of new energy storage on the power generation side will be close to 67GW. In the face of the huge market, it has also produced great temptation for many technical schools. It brings the energy storage industry into a critical period of unprecedented opportunities and challenges.
From the perspective of technology and business prospects, safety and economy are important factors in the competition of energy storage schools and various energy storage technologies.
Lithium battery technology is relatively mature, because it is widely used in mobile phones, home appliances, new energy vehicles and the recently rapidly rising energy storage industry. Lithium battery has always been regarded as the darling of the market. However, in the past two years, lithium battery seems to have encountered a new rival - liquid battery.
On June 29, 2022, the National Energy Administration issued a draft for comment, stipulating that in order to prevent fire accidents in electrochemical energy storage power stations, medium and large electrochemical energy storage power stations should not use ternary lithium batteries and sodium sulfur batteries. The inherent defect of poor quality of lithium battery buries hidden safety hazards for lithium battery. Excessive charging and discharging, short circuit and out-of-control battery overheating caused by extrusion of lithium battery are the main fuse, which has become an important reason for the disqualification of ternary lithium battery in the energy storage industry.
At the same time, lithium-ion batteries shall not be installed in densely populated places, or in buildings or underground spaces where people live or move. In the context of time-of-use electricity price, this will undoubtedly give lithium battery a fatal blow. Liquid-flow battery also ushered in another spring of development.
As one of the electrochemical energy storage technologies, liquid flow battery was first proposed by L.H. Thaller in 1974. The battery technology pushes the cathode and anode electrolyte into the stack through the pipeline, and converts the electrical energy and chemical energy through the valence change of active elements to realize charging and discharging. Since liquid flow battery stores energy in aqueous electrolyte and energy conversion does not depend on solid electrode, there is almost no risk of combustion and explosion, meeting the safety requirements of energy storage.
Schematic diagram of liquid flow battery operation
Zinc, iron, vanadium, chromium, bromine, and other elements are favored by liquid flow battery technology, which is also the reason for the stronger stability of liquid flow battery. Jointly promote the development of liquid flow battery. In addition, in addition to ensuring the safety of energy supply, liquid flow battery also has obvious advantages in terms of charging and discharging times. Generally more than 15000 times, more than 3 times of lithium battery. In addition, the liquid-flow battery is easy to install and small in size, which has huge space for sustainable development and market opportunities.
3、 Low cost and capacity: weight for terminal application of zinc-iron liquid flow battery
1. Ultra-low electricity cost provides commercial support for terminal applications such as shared energy storage
Energy storage technology has risen to the issue of national, energy and strategic discourse. All countries are paying attention to and developing energy storage. While paying attention to safety, we are also starting to realize the commercial value of energy storage.
Excluding the lithium battery technology path that is mature but has potential safety hazards, the more unfamiliar liquid flow battery is more suitable for the needs of new energy storage scenarios. And after more than 40 years of development, the liquid flow battery has formed a relatively complete technical system.
This technical path can flexibly adjust and control the battery capacity. It can easily expand the capacity by increasing the electrolyte without going through complicated disassembly procedures. It can achieve long-term and large-capacity energy storage and meet the cost of electricity in the whole life cycle. More importantly, the raw materials of liquid flow battery are rich in domestic storage, low in price, independent of import, and highly cost-effective.
In 2013, the founding team of Weijing Energy Storage took the lead in breaking through the key issues of electrochemical reduction reaction and obtaining patents. At present, the cost of kilowatt-hour of lithium battery (unit cost of charging and discharging one kilowatt-hour of electricity) is about 5~6 cents, and the cost of all-vanadium liquid flow battery is about 3~4 cents. Weijing Energy Storage said, "Their team can reduce the cost of kilowatt-hour of zinc-iron liquid flow battery to less than 20 cents, and will have obvious advantages in terms of technical cost in the future."
More importantly, as a new type of energy storage, liquid-flow battery can achieve economic issues such as matching supply and demand during peak and valley periods in the future, and help Shanghai build a future energy industry cluster.
CCTV Financial Channel also commented: "The supply of zinc and iron elements is large and the price is low. After solving the technical bottleneck of raw material preparation, the zinc and iron flow battery is competitive in the market. The cost of zinc and iron flow battery occupies an absolute advantage in the market."
2. The capacity provides guarantee for the "three ends" multi-scenario application of zinc-iron liquid flow battery
According to the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage issued by the National Development and Reform Commission in July 2021, it is clear that the installed capacity of domestic energy storage will reach more than 30GW by 2025. That is to say, compared with the current situation, the growth rate of electrochemical energy storage will be 6 times in the next three years. The super-speed installed capacity of energy storage needs to be supported by capacity.
The research and development history of Weijing energy storage zinc-iron liquid-flow battery has been more than 40 years. Under the continuous scientific and technological research and development and technological innovation, the localized product transformation has been completed, fully realizing the technological breakthrough and comprehensive industrialization of China's energy storage.
On January 15, 2023, the intelligent production line of zinc-iron liquid-flow battery stack was officially put into operation in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, which pioneered the realization of the intellectualization of the whole chain of liquid-flow battery stack production, marking that Weijing Energy Storage has opened a mass production capacity of more than 100 megawatts, providing the basis and template for the company to rapidly copy the intelligent manufacturing capacity to Weijing "super G plants" across the country. The outer facade of the 1.5GW super-G factory located in Zhuhai has been completed and is planned to be put into operation by the end of June 2023.
Weijing Energy Storage is located in the "Super G Factory" in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province
The capacity scale of Weijing Zhuhai "Super G Factory" after its completion will complement and expand the new energy storage industry, which is of landmark significance for promoting the industrialization of the new liquid-flow energy storage battery.
The demand for energy storage is "blowout". With the obvious advantages of extremely safe, ultra-low electricity cost, easy installation, charging and discharging times, and the leadership in production capacity, the zinc-iron flow battery is also called the main force of the future energy storage industry.
The conflict between Russia-Ukraine conflict has intensified the energy tension. The natural gas supply cut off caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict has further pushed up the natural gas price in Europe, thus making the European electricity price soar all the way. In China, after the high temperature electricity limit last year, there was a wave of high electricity prices at the end of the year. The "time-of-use electricity price" Oolong incident occurred frequently, and the official response was negative. Behind it was people's concern about the rise of civil electricity price. According to incomplete statistics, 23 provinces and cities have issued 27 policies to improve the time-of-use electricity price mechanism.
1、 Time-of-use electricity price, an opportunity for energy storage "blowout"
In the context of achieving carbon peak and carbon neutral goals, time-sharing electricity is one of the important mechanisms to support the construction of new power systems and the sound and rapid development of new energy.
According to the statistics of CNESA on the average value of the maximum peak-valley price difference of 10kV in general industry and commerce in 2022, the overall average price difference of 31 typical provinces and cities in China is 0.7 yuan/kWh, of which a total of 16 provinces and cities are above the 1000 average value, and the highest average value of the peak-valley price difference in Guangdong Province (five cities in the Pearl River Delta) is 1.259 yuan/kWh. In the future, as the intra-day fluctuation of the power system increases, the peak-valley price difference is expected to expand.
For general industrial and commercial users, the use of energy storage equipment to charge when the electricity price is low and discharge when the electricity price is high is one of the main driving forces. With the increasingly obvious "double high" characteristics of the power system, the peak-valley price difference under the time-of-use tariff policy continues to increase, providing important support for the economic improvement of the user-side energy storage project.
In addition to stimulating the economy of general industrial and commercial users, time-of-use electricity price also shares the pressure of power grid cost and distribution system capital cost. With the vigorous development of electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial process electrification, the time-of-use electricity price of distribution will help to manage the cost of distribution system.
In 2021, Denmark readjusted and modified the pricing method of distribution companies. According to the Danish government department, this revision is aimed at supporting the transition from distribution network to new grid to meet the growing demand for electrification of electric vehicles and other terminals.
That is to say, the commercial potential and value of time-of-use electricity price is far greater than we think.
With the intensive introduction of domestic energy storage policies, the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" for Renewable Energy pointed out that the proportion of renewable energy power generation in the increase of electricity consumption in the whole society will exceed 50% in 2025. New energy storage and shared energy storage will become the key work of provincial and municipal governments in 2023. In the context of clear requirements for distribution and storage at the power generation side, the application of energy storage terminals that have strengthened the time-of-use electricity price and the peak-valley electricity price difference provides a huge business opportunity.
2、 Competition of energy storage technology in terminal application
It has gradually become a global trend for energy storage to enter the industrial and commercial application field. 26 provinces and cities across the country have planned the installation target of new energy storage during the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" period. By 2025, the total planned installed capacity of new energy storage on the power generation side will be close to 67GW. In the face of the huge market, it has also produced great temptation for many technical schools. It brings the energy storage industry into a critical period of unprecedented opportunities and challenges.
From the perspective of technology and business prospects, safety and economy are important factors in the competition of energy storage schools and various energy storage technologies.
Lithium battery technology is relatively mature, because it is widely used in mobile phones, home appliances, new energy vehicles and the recently rapidly rising energy storage industry. Lithium battery has always been regarded as the darling of the market. However, in the past two years, lithium battery seems to have encountered a new rival - liquid battery.
On June 29, 2022, the National Energy Administration issued a draft for comment, stipulating that in order to prevent fire accidents in electrochemical energy storage power stations, medium and large electrochemical energy storage power stations should not use ternary lithium batteries and sodium sulfur batteries. The inherent defect of poor quality of lithium battery buries hidden safety hazards for lithium battery. Excessive charging and discharging, short circuit and out-of-control battery overheating caused by extrusion of lithium battery are the main fuse, which has become an important reason for the disqualification of ternary lithium battery in the energy storage industry.
At the same time, lithium-ion batteries shall not be installed in densely populated places, or in buildings or underground spaces where people live or move. In the context of time-of-use electricity price, this will undoubtedly give lithium battery a fatal blow. Liquid-flow battery also ushered in another spring of development.
As one of the electrochemical energy storage technologies, liquid flow battery was first proposed by L.H. Thaller in 1974. The battery technology pushes the cathode and anode electrolyte into the stack through the pipeline, and converts the electrical energy and chemical energy through the valence change of active elements to realize charging and discharging. Since liquid flow battery stores energy in aqueous electrolyte and energy conversion does not depend on solid electrode, there is almost no risk of combustion and explosion, meeting the safety requirements of energy storage.
Schematic diagram of liquid flow battery operation
Zinc, iron, vanadium, chromium, bromine, and other elements are favored by liquid flow battery technology, which is also the reason for the stronger stability of liquid flow battery. Jointly promote the development of liquid flow battery. In addition, in addition to ensuring the safety of energy supply, liquid flow battery also has obvious advantages in terms of charging and discharging times. Generally more than 15000 times, more than 3 times of lithium battery. In addition, the liquid-flow battery is easy to install and small in size, which has huge space for sustainable development and market opportunities.
3、 Low cost and capacity: weight for terminal application of zinc-iron liquid flow battery
1. Ultra-low electricity cost provides commercial support for terminal applications such as shared energy storage
Energy storage technology has risen to the issue of national, energy and strategic discourse. All countries are paying attention to and developing energy storage. While paying attention to safety, we are also starting to realize the commercial value of energy storage.
Excluding the lithium battery technology path that is mature but has potential safety hazards, the more unfamiliar liquid flow battery is more suitable for the needs of new energy storage scenarios. And after more than 40 years of development, the liquid flow battery has formed a relatively complete technical system.
This technical path can flexibly adjust and control the battery capacity. It can easily expand the capacity by increasing the electrolyte without going through complicated disassembly procedures. It can achieve long-term and large-capacity energy storage and meet the cost of electricity in the whole life cycle. More importantly, the raw materials of liquid flow battery are rich in domestic storage, low in price, independent of import, and highly cost-effective.
In 2013, the founding team of Weijing Energy Storage took the lead in breaking through the key issues of electrochemical reduction reaction and obtaining patents. At present, the cost of kilowatt-hour of lithium battery (unit cost of charging and discharging one kilowatt-hour of electricity) is about 5~6 cents, and the cost of all-vanadium liquid flow battery is about 3~4 cents. Weijing Energy Storage said, "Their team can reduce the cost of kilowatt-hour of zinc-iron liquid flow battery to less than 20 cents, and will have obvious advantages in terms of technical cost in the future."
More importantly, as a new type of energy storage, liquid-flow battery can achieve economic issues such as matching supply and demand during peak and valley periods in the future, and help Shanghai build a future energy industry cluster.
CCTV Financial Channel also commented: "The supply of zinc and iron elements is large and the price is low. After solving the technical bottleneck of raw material preparation, the zinc and iron flow battery is competitive in the market. The cost of zinc and iron flow battery occupies an absolute advantage in the market."
2. The capacity provides guarantee for the "three ends" multi-scenario application of zinc-iron liquid flow battery
According to the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage issued by the National Development and Reform Commission in July 2021, it is clear that the installed capacity of domestic energy storage will reach more than 30GW by 2025. That is to say, compared with the current situation, the growth rate of electrochemical energy storage will be 6 times in the next three years. The super-speed installed capacity of energy storage needs to be supported by capacity.
The research and development history of Weijing energy storage zinc-iron liquid-flow battery has been more than 40 years. Under the continuous scientific and technological research and development and technological innovation, the localized product transformation has been completed, fully realizing the technological breakthrough and comprehensive industrialization of China's energy storage.
On January 15, 2023, the intelligent production line of zinc-iron liquid-flow battery stack was officially put into operation in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, which pioneered the realization of the intellectualization of the whole chain of liquid-flow battery stack production, marking that Weijing Energy Storage has opened a mass production capacity of more than 100 megawatts, providing the basis and template for the company to rapidly copy the intelligent manufacturing capacity to Weijing "super G plants" across the country. The outer facade of the 1.5GW super-G factory located in Zhuhai has been completed and is planned to be put into operation by the end of June 2023.
Weijing Energy Storage is located in the "Super G Factory" in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province
The capacity scale of Weijing Zhuhai "Super G Factory" after its completion will complement and expand the new energy storage industry, which is of landmark significance for promoting the industrialization of the new liquid-flow energy storage battery.
The demand for energy storage is "blowout". With the obvious advantages of extremely safe, ultra-low electricity cost, easy installation, charging and discharging times, and the leadership in production capacity, the zinc-iron flow battery is also called the main force of the future energy storage industry.