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It has become the leading year for home energy storage in China. However, since 2023, the trend of home energy storage explosions has slowed. High electricity prices and the reduction of the cost of photovoltaic storage systems are important sources of economic impetus for home energy storage.
Last year, Europe's demand for electricity expanded further. Relevant data show that in Germany, where the penetration rate of home energy storage is relatively high, several companies such as BYD occupy about three quarters of the installed volume of the German market.
1. Home energy storage racing upgrade
Tesla, BYD, LG Energy, Sunwoda, and other companies compete in the global market of home energy storage and have entered the competition stage. According to reliable sources, most of the emerging home energy storage companies have entered the global market since the second half of 2022.
At this critical time of competition, there are also a number of emerging home energy storage companies in China that are accelerating the layout of the global home energy storage market. It is reported that the current Chinese companies are mainly based on the European and American markets.
Under such high demand, as the cost of energy storage on the user side continues to decline, and electricity prices in major regions such as Europe continue to rise, the spread of time-of-use prices widens. The household photovoltaic and the mode to storing energy has entered the era of parity, and the economy has gradually emerged.
Under the background of the catalysts of subsidies and tax credit policies and the expiry of FIT contracts, the energy storage market of the family is still relatively certain. At present, home energy storage is mainly concentrated in countries or regions with high electricity prices and countries and regions with weak power grid facilities.
It is also roughly an important destination for Chinese home energy storage companies to go overseas. According to relevant data, Germany, the United States, Japan and Australia currently account for the highest proportion of the user side to use energy and store.
2. Industry barriers to channel construction
The core barrier of home energy storage lies in the adaptation and channel advantage with energy storage inverters. As a small energy storage battery, the core integrated technology requirements are not high, and its core competitive key is market brand and channel construction.
It is mainly different from the requirements of the energy storage inverter and the customized product design according to customer needs. For example, the BMS in the system needs to be adapted to the inverter. The inverter controller communicates with the BMS through the CAN interface to obtain the status information of the battery pack, which can realize the protective charging and discharging of the battery and ensure the safe operation of the battery.
The biggest factor consumers consider when buying energy storage batteries is brand reputation, consumers rarely know the source of the cells and components used, and the channel certification cycle is complex and long. The mainstream technical route of home energy storage is lithium battery, and sodium ion and lithium manganese iron are new paths in the future. Battery technology routes include lithium-ion, lead-acid batteries, flow batteries, etc.
3. The three major cell routes are parallel
At present, lithium iron phosphate batteries are more in line with the design needs of energy storage batteries than other lithium batteries due to their high safety and long cycle life, and are the mainstream development route of energy storage batteries. Tesla power batteries are also gradually shifting from the ternary route to the lithium route.
In addition, the top 10 lithium battery companies in the world such as CATL are already conducting research and development and testing of sodium-ion and manganese-iron lithium batteries. And it is expected that the technical route of energy storage batteries is going to be further improved in the future. From the current global road of lithium battery technology for household energy storage, there are three main categories: cylindrical ternary system, prismatic lithium ion system and pouch lithium ion system.
● Cylindrical system
Among them, the cylindrical system is mainly adopted by LG and Samsung SDI, and the main user is Tesla in the United States. Tesla's first generation powerwall uses 18650 ternary cylindrical cells, and the second generation product is upgraded to 21700 ternary cylindrical cells.
At the same time, based on greater room for cost reduction and efficiency improvement, the application possibilities of large cylinders in household storage systems have yet to be explored.
● Prismatic lithium ion system
The route advantages of lithium batteries are reflected in small space occupancy, high material stability and high cost performance. Considering that China's power batteries generally use prismatic lithium ion, the use of parallel production of power and to store energy can minimize the manufacturing cost of prismatic lithium ion.
Representative companies are mainly CATL, BYD and REPT. Under the push of companies, the prismatic lithium route is increasing its proportion in the global household storage market.
● Pouch battery system
The advantages of the pouch lithium ion route are mainly reflected in safety, cycle life, energy density and other aspects. However, the pouch manufacturing process is difficult and the production line efficiency is not as good as cylindrical and prismatic batteries, so fewer companies have adopted this route.
4. Conclusion
For battery energy storage, many companies are already prepared. In China, solar cells on the home side have begun construction and have a full range of services and installation equipment. In the future market, demand will only increase.
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