Raw material prices, energy storage what to do

With the continuous outbreak of electric vehicles + energy storage, the market demand for lithium iron phosphate batteries is hot, and the supply of batteries in the market is in short supply. At the same time, energy storage battery manufacturers have also launched an arms race, the demand for "military materials" raw materials is hungry, accompanied by global monetary easing and other factors, including cathode raw materials, anode raw materials, electrolytes and other materials prices are rising. ‎

‎lithium iron phosphate battery accounted for the highest proportion of price is the cathode raw material lithium carbonate. taking battery-grade lithium carbonate as an example, at the beginning of the new year, its price has repeatedly reached new highs, as of now, the quotation has exceeded 400,000 yuan/ton, compared with the price of less than 60,000 yuan in early 2021, a year of time increase of more than 6 times, an amazing increase. various battery manufacturers are also facing the supply of supply-side limited barriers, there are mines in the home, the heart is not worried, and the advantages of the vertical supply chain of some manufacturers in the advanced layout are highlighted.‎

‎in the face of the "endless rise and fall" of raw materials, since the second half of last year, various battery manufacturers have begun to raise prices. compared with the beginning of last year, the price of batteries generally rose by about 30%, and the manufacturer's quotation cycle was shortened, facing price increases at any time, and due to the huge gap in demand on the demand side, the general supply cycle was lengthened.‎

‎as the highest proportion of investment in energy storage power stations, the rise in battery prices will have a great impact on the development of the industry.‎

‎for energy storage projects, the general use of kwh cost and mileage cost to reflect the cost of unit energy in the whole life cycle, with the rise in the price of terminal lithium iron phosphate batteries, its kwh cost and mileage cost rise, subject to the current most application scenarios energy storage income is still limited, the revenue mechanism is still not perfect, especially the new energy side configuration energy storage, shared energy storage and user side energy storage, the continuous rise in cost will greatly affect the user's investment enthusiasm and energy storage construction progress.‎

‎for example, photovoltaic supporting energy storage projects, mainly still rely on the income of photovoltaic power plants to share the cost, due to the current high cost of photovoltaic power plants, in some areas with limited optical resources, will greatly affect the investment enthusiasm of enterprises. for example, user-side energy storage, its revenue is still mainly dependent on the peak-to-valley electricity price difference, although from the second half of last year, various localities have introduced policies to widen the peak-valley electricity price difference level, the income of user-side energy storage in most areas is still limited, and the rise in energy storage prices will affect the construction process of user-side energy storage.‎

‎the price increase of lithium iron phosphate batteries has also made everyone turn their attention to the diversification of battery technology routes, such as sodium-ion batteries, full vanadium, iron-chromium flow batteries and other technical routes have also received everyone's attention. the diversification of battery technology will diversify the risks of battery technology and promote the progress of energy storage technology.‎

‎with the advancement of double carbon, energy storage, as an indispensable key element in the construction of source grid load storage system, pursues energy storage with lower cost and mileage cost and more sound revenue model is the key factor to promote its commercialization process.‎

‎with the release of the new production capacity of lithium iron phosphate of various manufacturers, the intensification of competition and the decline in raw material prices will effectively reduce the investment in energy storage power stations. at the same time, researchers are also studying batteries with better performance levels, batteries with higher cycle times and efficiency. for example, the battery cycle life of the demonstration project built by catlin Jinjiang can reach 12,000 times, and the use of new technologies will effectively reduce the cost of the whole life cycle of energy storage.‎

‎in addition, the market trading and price mechanism are also gradually improving, promoting the improvement of the energy storage income model. recently, the national development and reform commission and the national energy administration issued the "guiding opinions on accelerating the construction of a unified national electricity market system", which mentions that by 2025, an integrated design and joint operation of the long-term, spot and auxiliary service markets will be built to promote the formation of market transactions and price mechanisms for energy storage.‎