Lithium battery companies continue to benefit in the future
Because of the instability and intermittent nature of new energy power generation, large-scale development and utilization will make the contradiction between supply and demand more prominent, and the global abandonment of wind and solar is widespread. Since 2015, my country’s curtailment rate has rapidly deteriorated. In 2017, due to the transfer of new new energy installed capacity to the central and eastern regions, the impact has weakened. However, the curtailment rate in some provinces is still above double digits, and the country’s annual new installed capacity will likely remain above 60GW. The impact on the power grid is still strong, and the need to improve the power grid regulation capacity is very urgent.
Energy storage technology largely solves the problems of randomness and volatility of new energy power generation, can achieve smooth output of new energy power generation, and can effectively regulate new energy power generation The resulting changes in grid voltage, frequency, and phase enable large-scale wind power and photovoltaic power generation to be easily and reliably integrated into the conventional grid. At the same time, the participation of large-scale energy storage in grid regulation is regarded as an important application field of energy storage.
In addition, in order to improve the power grid regulation capability, my country has intensively issued relevant policy documents in the field of power auxiliary services from 2017. So far, nine provinces across the country have issued market-oriented reform documents for power auxiliary services, which have strongly promoted the market-oriented reform of my country's grid frequency regulation mechanism and laid the institutional foundation for energy storage to participate in grid regulation. With the continuous advancement of the market-oriented reform of power auxiliary services, the huge advantages of energy storage in grid frequency regulation have gradually emerged, and the pricing power of energy storage systems has been significantly improved. On the other hand, through the power auxiliary service system, the energy storage system's new energy consumption capacity has also been greatly improved. Therefore, the construction of the energy storage system will significantly improve the development environment of my country's new energy industry and further increase the penetration rate of new energy.
As of the end of 2017, the cumulative installed capacity of energy storage projects in operation in my country was 28.9 GW, a year-on-year increase of 19%. Similar to the global energy storage market, my country's cumulative installed capacity of pumped storage accounts for the largest proportion, close to 99%, but it has declined slightly compared with the same period of the previous year. The cumulative installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage ranked second with 389.8 MW, an increase of 45% year-on-year, and its share was 1.3%, an increase of 0.2% over the previous year. It is worth noting that among various electrochemical energy storage technologies, lithium-ion batteries account for the largest cumulative installed capacity, accounting for 58%.
Compared with traditional lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries have the characteristics of high energy density and fast response, so they have become the first choice in electrochemical energy storage installations. Statistics show that the installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage in my country in 2018 increased by 127% year-on-year, of which the installed capacity of the grid side and auxiliary services accounted for more than 60%, and all of them were lithium-ion batteries... In the future, as related energy storage projects continue Construction starts, and the marginal drive for lithium battery demand is expected to increase significantly. It is expected that from 2019, grid-level lithium battery energy storage demand is expected to reach the GW level.
In terms of investment, key companies in the lithium battery industry include: Longi, Tongwei, Ningde City, Sungrow, etc. Northeast Securities pointed out that Sungrow’s lithium battery energy storage products have achieved rapid expansion, and it has achieved more than 650 energy storage projects in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Japan, Australia and other countries. It has continuously ranked first in the domestic lithium battery energy storage capacity. The establishment of an energy storage joint venture with Samsung can give full play to the advantages of both parties. The revenue of the joint venture has increased rapidly in 2018 and is expected to become the company's highest growth business.