From April 10th to 13th, the 12th Energy Storage International Summit and Exhibition (ESIE 2024) was held in Beijing, and Wu Jiamaung, Senior Vice President of Sungrow, was invited to give a keynote report on "High-quality energy storage is the only way for the healthy development of the industry" at the opening ceremony of the conference. "In 2023, the global installed capacity of new energy will increase by about 50% year-on-year, and the installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage will increase by about 130% year-on-year, and the global installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage is expected to reach 160GWh in 2024, while China is expected to account for 41%," he said. The energy storage industry is entering a period of rapid development, but there are still hidden concerns in the investment, operation, and safety of energy storage projects. ”
From the perspective of energy storage projects and energy storage equipment manufacturers, Wu Jiaxiang listed three major concerns about electrochemical energy storage:
First of all, the performance of energy storage power stations is not up to standard due to factors such as batteries, PCS, BMS, EMS, etc. According to the "2023 Electrochemical Energy Storage Power Station Industry Statistics" of the China Electricity Council, the unplanned outage of electrochemical energy storage power stations accounted for 57.25%, mainly caused by batteries, PCS, BMS, EMS and other factors, of which battery factors accounted for 32.72%. In addition, due to battery attenuation, aging equipment, non-standard operation and maintenance, etc., the energy efficiency of power stations that have been in operation for more than 5 years has been reduced by more than 6% on average, which greatly affects the reliability of power stations and even the early retirement of equipment.
(Source: China Electricity Council)
Secondly, there are many interfaces in the energy storage system, it is difficult to debug, it is connected to the grid for a long time, the assessment is not up to standard, and there is no guarantee for after-sales. As a complex system with multiple couplings, there are many interfaces for key energy storage equipment, and it is difficult to coordinate with multiple manufacturers, and many power stations have not even been connected to the grid for more than 180 days of installation and commissioning. In addition, the interface is incompatible and the data is not synchronized, which will lead to abnormal execution of power grid dispatching instructions and the output of the power station cannot meet the dispatching requirements. The later operation cannot be guaranteed, and the operation and maintenance rights and responsibilities of many manufacturers are unclear, and the after-sales prevarication is prevaricated.
Finally, the safety of energy storage in terms of people, assets, grid connection, operation and maintenance, etc., is still prominent. Lack of effective detection and preventive measures, unreasonable protection design, ineffective fire protection, and no combustible gas discharge channel will bring hidden dangers of energy storage safety accidents. Moreover, energy storage safety is not only the safety of personal assets, but also the safety of grid connection and operation and maintenance. Taking the tragic lesson of photovoltaic "orphan power stations" as an example, after the "531" incident, a large number of manufacturers in the industry reshuffled and went bankrupt, resulting in a large number of "orphan power stations" being operated and maintained unmanned, and the operation time was far lower than the design life.
On how to strengthen technological innovation, quality control and adhere to the bottom line of safety, Wu Jiaxiang gave Sungrow's thoughts and answers:
First of all, we should continue to deepen the "three electrics" technology and lead the industry innovation
Energy storage technology covers three cores: electrochemical technology that makes energy storage safer and more efficient, power electronics technology that opens up the two-way energy channel from the battery to the grid, and grid support technology that creates grid-friendly power stations. Taking Sungrow PowerTitan 2.0 as an example, it is equipped with 6D cell health diagnosis technology, which is electrochemical technology, which can warn of cell abnormalities 24 hours in advance, and is equipped with high-current AI arc extinguishing technology, which belongs to power electronics technology, which can be identified in milliseconds and shut down in seconds without fire. Sungrow's network construction technology is a power grid support technology, which can help the new power system operate stably in all scenarios according to grid conditions.
Secondly, it is necessary to pay attention to the guarantee of system quality, and conduct all-round rigorous testing from the battery cell to the system. More than 100 rigorous tests are carried out in each link of the battery, PACK+RACK, PCS to the system, involving different specialties of testing, and a large number of R&D and testing resources need to be invested.
Finally, it is important to return the installation to the factory and leave safety in the field
Through the investment of a large number of R&D and testing resources, the on-site environment of various working conditions is simulated in the factory to ensure that most of the system installation and commissioning work is completed before leaving the factory. Taking the Taierzhuang 100MW/200MWh grid-side independent energy storage project as an example, it only takes 30 days from delivery to grid connection, which improves the efficiency of the project construction by 50% and creates a record for the shortest construction period of the main project of the energy storage power station.
Sharing of best practices to promote the healthy development of the energy storage industry
At the end of the report, Wu Jiaxiang shared two typical cases of Sungrow in promoting the healthy development of the energy storage industry.
1. The healthy development of the energy storage industry needs to rely on the market mechanism, and as an equipment manufacturer, it is more necessary to invest in R&D and innovation to ensure the safety and reliability of equipment quality. For example, in Christmas 2023, the frequency of the British power grid fell to 49.3Hz in an instant due to the tripping of the interconnector IFA1, and Sungrow responded within 1 second to the energy storage system operated by Mendi in the UK, helping the grid frequency to return to normal within 5 minutes and avoiding a large-scale power outage.
2. From a domestic point of view, industrial and commercial energy storage will be the first scenario that can test the "safe and easy to use" of energy storage. "Sungrow's principle is to ensure the success of the commercial and industrial energy storage business model from the perspective of safety and profitability throughout the life cycle, and to provide integrated solution products and one-stop cooperation policies, hoping to cooperate with all walks of life." Recently, Sungrow has joined hands with Xiaoju Energy, a subsidiary of Didi, to comprehensively promote the "charging station + energy storage" 1,000-station plan, relying on 5,000 charging stations in Xiaoju, which is expected to be configured with about 2GWh to jointly promote the healthy development of energy storage in the transportation industry.