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2022 is coming to an end, and energy storage, which has been favored by capital this year, frequently makes headlines. From the perspective of development direction, most policies and companies are focusing on the field of lithium battery energy storage in electrochemical energy storage. With the implementation of the goals of dual carbon and building a new power system, as a key technology supporting the development of renewable energy, what opportunities will energy storage have for development?
From batteries to products that need to be charged, energy storage technology is at work. Under the tide of new energy industry development, energy storage is considered to be the next outlet of new energy. The development of energy storage is due to the instability and intermittent nature of wind power and photovoltaic power generation. Only with the cooperation of energy storage systems can stable and reliable power be provided.
1. Lithium battery energy storage market is taking off
The rapid growth of the energy storage market relies on the development of hydropower and photovoltaics in the field of new energy. Through new energy generation and lithium battery energy storage, it is becoming a mature new energy system. In China, the energy storage market is growing rapidly. Up to now, more than 20 provinces have proposed policies and measures for the supporting development of "new energy + energy storage", and some regions clearly require that the proportion of energy storage allocated to new energy projects should not be less than 10%-20%.
At the same time, lithium batteries have been regarded as the first choice of modern energy storage equipment by the world due to their advantages such as high charge and discharge efficiency. In 2015, China officially exported the first batch of lithium battery equipment, and now it has covered more than 30 countries and regions. Relevant data show that in 2021, the shipment of energy storage batteries will reach 48GWh, a year-on-year increase of 167%. In the first half of 2022, the shipment of energy storage batteries reached 44.9GWh, and it is expected to exceed 90GWh in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 88%.
In 2025, it will exceed 324GWh, and the market size will exceed 3 trillion RMB in 2030. Breakthroughs in energy storage technology innovation and rapid market growth have led to increased production capacity, which has ushered in an explosion in China's lithium battery exports. In the first eight months of 2022, my country's lithium electronic energy storage batteries exported a total of 29.926 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 82.97%, which has exceeded all lithium battery exports in 2021.
On the energy storage lithium battery companies side, CATL and BYD cannot be bypassed. Data from the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute shows that in the first half of 2022, CATL’s revenue of 12.736 billion yuan surpassed BYD’s 11.445 billion yuan in revenue, but in terms of energy storage battery production, CATL is higher than BYD.
2. SMEs grab the lithium battery energy storage market
As a high-growth track, the energy storage market is driven by policies and encouraged by the market, and various regions are vying for development. Relevant data show that the global production capacity of 59 leading Chinese battery companies has exceeded 5171.4GWh. In 2022, 26 projects related to the production and manufacturing of energy storage batteries and power batteries have been announced, with a cumulative investment of over 290 billion RMB. Judging from the level of development in recent years, China's technical level of lithium battery energy storage has reached the world's leading level.
For companies, in the face of global energy technology competition, it is imperative to accelerate the construction of a new energy storage technology innovation system and seize the commanding heights of the industry. As energy storage becomes more and more important to the construction of regional and national energy systems, the amount of capital entering the market also increases. At present, the number of energy storage-related enterprises in China has exceeded 5,000, and small, medium and micro companies in the energy storage market are facing severe challenges.
Taking Shenzhen LEMI as an example, the company is developing a combination of photovoltaics and lithium batteries to realize portable energy storage and provide off-grid power generation systems for the population in areas without electricity around the world. Leading upstream energy storage companies monopolize most resources, resulting in weak bargaining power and small profit margins for mid- and downstream small and micro enterprises. LEMI chooses to take root in the manufacturing of battery energy storage equipment.
3. The road ahead for the energy storage market
The energy storage market is booming, and countless capitals have entered one after another. It seems that the spring of the energy storage industry has arrived, but in fact it has not yet entered a stage of vigorous development. According to relevant development plans in China, the new energy storage industry has just entered the initial stage of commercialization. It is expected to enter the stage of large-scale development in 2025, and achieve comprehensive market-oriented development by 2030. At present, the technology and acceptance standards of the energy storage industry in the early stage of commercialization are still not perfect.
Some companis without strength have not taken the overall situation into account, blindly expanded the industry, and do not have core competitiveness. It is difficult to achieve further development of the energy storage market. Economics is a barrier to the development of energy storage. Except for a few leading enterprises, most small, medium and micro enterprises with weak strength have not found a suitable business model. If things go on like this, it will lead to low-price and disorderly competition, which will directly lead to abnormal development.
In order to realize the orderly development of the energy storage market, for companies, it is necessary to give priority to forward-looking planning, implement supporting project resources, and optimize the revenue model, which can promote enterprises to realize commercial operation while reducing costs and increasing efficiency. In addition, energy storage is not a source of energy. As a carrier and transfer station, energy storage has application limitations such as capacity, time, and space. The large energy storage system is suitable for matching large-capacity batteries, which is in line with the layout of strong enterprises.
Small, medium and micro enterprises can deploy home energy storage scenarios, and gradually leapfrog through the development method of seeing the big from the small and following the trend. The energy storage market is essentially a battle for energy. Before the next competition, how will the endless stream of entrants find the key to open the vast market and strengthen the company's position in the energy storage market.
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