- Japan’s energy storage policy
In terms of funding, Japan is committed to providing direct funding for the research and development of energy storage technologies and to subsidizing the costs for the promotion of Energy Storage Technologies, such as the budget of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Meti) of Japan of about US $98.3 million, a 66% subsidy to households and businesses that install lithium-ion batteries.
Taking sodium-sulfur batteries as an example, the Japanese government not only provided free financial support in the early stage of research and development, and provided more than 50% of the funds, but also provided support in various aspects including technology, market, and demonstration projects. After it was put into commercial operation, Continue to give subsidies.
In terms of technology, Japan is committed to reducing battery costs and providing battery life. Therefore, it has launched a number of projects for technology research and development, including wind power projects, on-board batteries, stationary energy storage batteries, battery material technology evaluation, etc. The storage involved Energy technologies include lithium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries and all-vanadium flow batteries. In 2020, Japan will develop a new generation of storage batteries, and hopes to make production costs 90% lower than lithium batteries through mass production.
2. U.S. Energy Storage Incentive Policies
The U.S. government has given great support to energy storage technology and has positioned energy storage technology as a strategic technology to support the development of new energy. In recent years, the US government has formulated a series of related plans, investment and subsidy policies to support the development of the energy storage industry. The outlook for the US energy storage market remains bright.
At the federal level, the main incentive policies are investment tax credits (ITC) and accelerated depreciation (MACRS). Similar to photovoltaics, the US energy storage system’s incentive policies include investment tax credits (ITC) and accelerated depreciation, mainly for energy storage systems invested by private entities. MACRS allows energy storage projects to accelerate depreciation according to a depreciation period of 5-7 years.
On the other hand, the rise of the energy storage market is largely dependent on the promotion of state-level local governments.
In addition to federal policies, the U.S. state legislative and supervisory agencies have made the deployment of energy storage systems a priority in their energy policy. Each state has also introduced corresponding incentive policies for energy storage. A series of energy storage systems launched by U.S. states in the second quarter of 2019 Policies and measures.
3. China’s energy storage policy: a late start but rapid progress
China’s energy storage industry started late, but developed rapidly. Government departments began to focus on the development of energy storage industry in 2009. National development and Reform Commission, Ministry of science and technology, Ministry of industry and information technology and other ministries and commissions have set up special funds for energy storage industry, which are also reflected in national “863” and “973” scientific research projects.
Since then, with the emergence of foreign advanced energy storage material technology and high-performance battery technology investment boom, China new energy industry market demand has continued to expand. In 2010, the “Renewable Energy Law Amendment” mentioned the development of energy storage for the first time.
The 2016 “13th Five-Year Plan” clearly stated that eight key projects in the energy industry, including renewable energy, energy storage facilities, and key energy technology and equipment, should be promoted, and the R&D and application of solar thermal power generation and large-scale energy storage technologies should be accelerated. The development of the energy storage industry ushered in spring.
4. Inspiration and reference of energy storage incentive policies in the world
In recent years, the relevant policies of the energy storage industry in various countries have mainly focused on the following aspects:
1)In countries or regions where energy storage has not yet been promoted or has just started, the development of energy storage has gradually been incorporated into the national strategic plan, and the government has begun to formulate a development roadmap for energy storage.
2)In countries or regions where energy storage has a certain scale or relatively developed industries, governments often use tax incentives or subsidies to promote energy storage cost reduction and scale applications (especially user-side).
3)In countries or regions where energy storage is gradually participating in the auxiliary service market, the government has opened up regional power markets to achieve multiple values for energy storage applications and provide high-quality service creation platforms.