Step on the gas for developing new energy storage techniques

The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration recently published a five-year plan for China's modern energy system, requiring the proportion of non-fossil energy in China's electricity generation to be raised to 39 percent by 2025, to advance the construction of a new power system dominated by new energy and support the goal of carbon emissions peaking and carbon neutrality as scheduled.

Earlier, the two departments had issued an implementation program for new energy storage, pointing out the combination and common development of new energy and new energy storage technologies as an important direction for China to promote the construction of a modern energy system.

At present, the further rise in oil and gas prices owing to the Russia-Ukraine conflict is increasing global demands for coal and further widening the gap between coal supply and demand. In order to avoid the rising cost of domestic energy consumption because of rising international energy prices, China must urgently promote the large-scale utilization of wind power and solar power generation as well as the simultaneous improvement of new energy storage technologies.

In recent years, China's wind and solar power generation have presented a rapid development trend. However, there still exist uncertainties leading to instability in power supply and demand. This makes the new energy storage technology represented by electrochemical energy storage, electromagnetic energy storage and compressed air energy storage inevitable choices.

To enable new energy storage technologies to support the large-scale development of clean energy, China should set up a price mechanism that reflects the value of new energy storage flexibility. Considering that many places require new energy power stations to be configured with 5 percent to 20 percent energy storage, China should strengthen the incentive mechanism for new energy development and storage allocation.

As many types of new energy storage technologies exist, it is necessary to establish a standard system covering new energy storage, planning and design, and other fields, and formulate diversified application technical standards.

Given that the main bottleneck of energy storage development is its high initial investment cost and unclear investment recovery space, it is necessary to establish a more reasonable and efficient business model. In the long run, green financial systems such as green credit and green bonds will not only stimulate the market vitality of new energy storage, but also enrich the business model of new energy storage construction and operation.