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More and more battery-powered applications, especially electric vehicles and portable electronic devices, have led to an increasing global demand for batteries, as well as greater demands for battery management and energy storage solutions.
1. What are energy storage solutions
Energy storage solutions refer to the process of storing energy through media or devices and releasing it when needed. When it comes to energy storage, it mainly refers to the storage of electrical energy. In fact, the energy storage solutions are not an emerging technology, but from an industrial point of view, it is in its infancy and development stage.
Energy storage technology is a key node for the future energy system to have flexible, inclusive and balanced functions. From the perspective of application, energy storage is a key link in the power system and can be applied in any link of "generation, transmission, distribution, and use". Electricity is generated and used immediately, and cannot be stored directly. Allocation and storage can smooth power fluctuations and reduce waste of resources.
According to the application scenarios, it can be divided into user side, power generation side, grid side, transmission and distribution side, and auxiliary services. Energy storage solutions can also be used in home energy storage, which can be used as a backup power source in the home.
2. Significance of energy storage solutions
To ensure the stability of the system, through the energy storage and buffering of the energy storage system, the system can still operate at a stable output level even in the case of rapid load fluctuations.
Energy is used for backup, and energy storage solutions can play a backup and transition role in the event that clean energy generation fails to operate normally.
To improve power quality and reliability, energy storage solutions can also prevent grid fluctuations caused by voltage spikes, voltage drops, and external disturbances on the load from having a major impact on the system. Using enough energy storage systems can ensure the quality and reliability of power output.
The application of energy storage solutions to the power system can make up for the lack of storage and discharge functions in the power system, and is the key to ensuring the large-scale development of clean energy and the safe and economic operation of the power grid. Energy storage changes the scale of simultaneous completion of electric energy production, transmission, and use, making the rigid power system that is balanced in real time more flexible, especially in terms of smoothing the fluctuations caused by large-scale clean energy generation connected to the grid.
3. Why are energy storage solutions so popular
Energy storage itself is not an emerging technology, but it seems that the concept of energy storage became popular overnight? Now all countries have reached a consensus on carbon emissions and have set very strict standards. In the future, whether a product can prosper, the first priority is not whether it is easy to use, but whether it is environmentally friendly.
Under the goal of carbon reduction, electricity is the central link of energy transformation and a key area of carbon emission reduction. The low-carbon transformation of electricity has overall significance for achieving the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. As a large carbon emitter, thermal power plants are about to usher in major changes under the requirements of transformation.
Although China is currently inseparable from thermal power generation, under the constraints of China's carbon peak carbon neutrality goal, the suspension of construction and reduction of thermal power generation is undoubtedly a link that needs attention. The way of power generation in the future will gradually move closer to clean energy, that is, nuclear power, hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic and biomass power generation.
Considering the advantages of clean energy power generation, wind energy and solar energy are inexhaustible resources. Therefore, wind power and photovoltaics have no fuel cost constraints and have become the fastest growing industries in clean energy electricity. In terms of installed capacity, wind power and photovoltaics are the most potential alternatives to coal power. However, due to the instability of wind power and photovoltaic power station, the problem of grid-connected consumption is still limited, which also leads to a slowdown in its commercialization.
In short, wind energy and photovoltaic power generation have a key weakness - the output is unstable and cannot be generated as needed, so energy storage solutions came into being. The emergence of energy storage solutions will solve these disadvantages on the power generation side.
Energy storage solutions can mediate the randomness, volatility, and indirectness of wind energy and photovoltaic power generation, realize the complementarity of wind, light, and storage, and improve the predictability, controllability, and dispatchability of new energy power generation. And that can make it equal to or close to the conventional power supply, and solve the problem of safe and stable operation and effective consumption of new energy.
In the process of new energy replacing fossil energy, energy storage solutions can be said to be the core of the new energy industry revolution, and the energy storage market has also ushered in explosive growth, which will inevitably lead to fierce competition in the new energy market.
4. Mainstream way of energy storage solutions
Energy storage technology is classified according to the storage medium, which can be divided into mechanical energy storage, electrical energy storage, electrochemical energy storage, thermal energy storage and chemical energy storage. As the fastest-growing energy storage method in recent years, electrochemical energy storage has benefited from the rapid progress of energy storage technology, and the unit cost has gradually decreased, which has good commercial application conditions.
Energy storage solutions mainly include the following methods: lithium-ion battery energy storage, lead battery energy storage, sodium battery energy storage and flow battery energy storage.
Various types of battery energy storage comparison
|
Battery types |
Cycle life |
Characteristic |
|
Lithium battery |
4000 - 5000 cycles |
Currently the most mature; high energy density, no pollution, but high cost and potential safety hazards |
|
Lead acid battery |
500 - 1000 cycles |
Mature technology; stable performance, good economy, but short life and pollution |
|
Sodium battery |
More than 4500 cycles |
Early commercialization; higher energy density, higher charge and discharge efficiency |
|
Flow battery |
More than 10000 cycles |
Early commercialization; long life and clean, but high cost and low energy density |
Electrochemical energy storage needs to consider the issues of life, safety, and economic cost. Lithium-ion battery energy storage has high energy density, wide commercial application, declining unit cost, and mature technology, so lithium-ion battery energy storage has become the dominant position of global electrochemical energy storage.
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The principle of charging and discharging lithium batteries is simply to use the movement of lithium ions. When the lithium battery is charged, lithium ions are generated at the cathode of the battery, and the lithium ions can move to the anode of the battery through the electrolyte. The larger the number of lithium ions reaching the anode, the higher the battery capacity during charging. At present, lithium-ion battery energy storage mainly adopts lifepo4 battery technology.
The energy storage market is huge. With the advancement of technology, energy storage solutions will also change slowly. Representative energy storage technologies in the future include superconducting energy storage and supercapacitor energy storage, etc.
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