Lithium ion battery energy storage system: Leading in the development of new energy storage

Energy storage technology provides important support for building a new power system, promoting the energy revolution, and achieving the goal of carbon neutrality. New energy storage technologies, including new lithium-ion batteries, compressed air, hydrogen (ammonia) energy storage, and hot (cold) energy storage, are injecting impetus to green development.

Lithium battery is lithium metal or lithium alloy as the cathode material, using a non-aqueous electrolyte solution of the battery. Lithium batteries are different from lithium-ion batteries in that the former is a one-time battery and the latter is a rechargeable battery. Lithium-ion batteries work mainly by moving lithium ions between the positive and negative terminals. In the process of charging and discharging, lithium ions are embedded and unembedded between the two electrodes. During charging, lithium ions are unembedded from the positive electrode and embedded into the negative electrode through the electrolyte, which is in a lithium-rich state. The opposite is true for electrical discharge.

Among many electrochemical energy storage technology routes, lithium-ion batteries have established a relatively sound industrial chain. The main materials of lithium battery include positive electrode material, negative electrode material, electrolyte and diaphragm. Positive electrode material determines the capacity, life and other core performance of the battery, generally accounting for about 40% of the total cost of lithium battery, and is the most important link in the lithium battery industry chain.

Diverse application scenarios and broad market demand

The new energy storage has various application scenarios and can be integrated with all aspects of the power system, such as source, network and load. On the power supply side, it can cooperate with new energy and conventional power supply to optimize operation, in the power grid side, it can improve the power security level and the comprehensive efficiency of the system, and on the user side, it can be flexible and diversified. In terms of specific application fields, new energy vehicles, 3C digital field, energy storage, small power, and power tools are the main downstream application markets of lithium batteries.

Domestic and overseas demand also continues to grow. This year, the domestic large-scale energy storage bidding has exceeded 40GW, and the European household storage orders have been generally scheduled until April next year.

According to statistics from GGII, China's lithium battery shipments in 2021 reached 327GWh, up 130 percent year on year. It is estimated that in 2022, China's lithium battery shipment is expected to exceed 600GWh, with a year-on-year growth rate of over 80%. It is expected that the shipment volume of China's lithium battery market will exceed 1450GWh in 2025, with a compound growth rate of over 43% in the next four years.