There is no doubt that in order to achieve the deep decarbonization of the power system and accelerate the transformation of the global energy structure to low-carbon, the large-scale utilization of renewable energy is the fundamental path. However, the volatility and uncertainty of new energy power generation are significant, coupled with the shortcomings and problems of the current power system such as insufficient flexibility and insufficient adjustment capacity, which have become the “Achilles heel” that hinders the large-scale coverage of renewable energy.

Energy storage, as a flexible regulatory tool, can effectively respond to the above challenges, and is an important support for the continuous increase in the proportion of renewable energy installed. Energy storage technology realizes the decoupling of new energy generation and power load in time, solves the bottleneck of clean energy volatility and intermittenity, and achieves dynamic balance on the distribution side, becoming the basic element of the new power system “source network load and storage”, and is praised by the industry as the “dragon pulse” industry of the future energy power system.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Energy Bureau issued the “14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of New energy Storage” at the beginning of this year, which also emphasized that demonstration pilot projects would promote the industrialization of new energy storage, step into the stage of large-scale development of new energy storage by 2025, and fully market the development of new energy storage by 2030, basically meeting the needs of building a new power system. According to the “2022 Energy Storage Industry Application Research Report” released by the China Chemical and Physical Power Association, the installed power of the global energy storage market in 2021 is about 205.3GW, of which the installed power of China’s energy storage market will reach 43.44GW, ranking first in the world. Recently, ABB Electric analyzed the development of the domestic electrical energy storage industry and proposed relevant solutions.

Overview of ABB’s solutions for the electric energy storage industry

A variety of technical routes coexist, and a safe, green and flexible energy storage system is just needed

Energy storage runs through the complete energy chain of power generation, transmission and electricity consumption, and is the core technology of energy conversion and buffering, peak regulation and efficiency improvement, transmission and scheduling, management and application. It is not only an important guarantee for national energy security, but also the main development power of emerging industries such as electric vehicles, and has important strategic value under the new infrastructure and carbon neutral policies. At present, the realization of energy storage is in the stage of coexistence of various technical routes, according to the form of charge and discharge energy conversion, it can be roughly divided into physical energy storage (such as pumped energy storage, compressed air energy storage, flywheel energy storage, etc.), electrochemical energy storage (such as lead-acid batteries, REDOX flow batteries, sodium-sulfur batteries, lithium-ion batteries, etc.) and electromagnetic energy storage (such as superconducting electromagnetic energy storage, supercapacitor energy storage, etc.).

At present, the main energy storage in China is still pumped energy storage, and pumped energy storage is also the energy storage technology with the largest installed capacity. ABB can provide technologically advanced electrical application solutions for the construction of pumped storage hydropower stations. For example, in the medium voltage power supply system of hydropower plants, ABB iVD4 integrates a number of medium voltage digital distribution technologies, which is an advanced intelligent solution in the field of medium voltage switches. The low-voltage intelligent power distribution solution for the plant can be configured by the Emax 2 with full power management functions, the newly designed Tmax XT and the Ekip new-generation electronic trip device with more protection functions, higher precision and wider range.

On the other hand, although the technology of pumped energy storage is more mature, it requires external constraints such as neighboring water deployment, and the construction cycle is usually as long as several years, and the incremental space is relatively limited. With flexible configuration, short construction period and high cost performance, electrochemical energy storage has gradually become a popular choice for supporting the consumption of new energy and the construction of new power systems on the power supply side and the power grid side, and has entered the stage of commercial deployment and has a broader market application prospect. Among them, lithium battery energy storage technology has become the most widely used electrochemical energy storage method due to its small size, high energy density and fast response speed. The discussion centered on this in the industry is also basically focused on how to use lithium battery energy storage technology to achieve peak reduction and valley filling in power regulation, further improve power quality, reduce system energy consumption, and ensure power safety while the complexity of the grid architecture is increasing.

Regardless of the implementation method, the cost, safety and environmental protection issues of energy storage systems need to build a market-oriented technological innovation system, from the materials, equipment, systems and applications and other levels of collaboration, taking into account the environmental load and resource regeneration of the whole industry chain design and application. As a global technology leader, ABB will effectively promote the integrated development of safe, green and flexible energy storage systems and new power systems through high-performance power equipment products, improve the level of power security and comprehensive efficiency of the system, and help China continue to lead the energy storage system track.