Energy storage has been recognized as one of the ten new technologies that could change the world in the future, and energy storage batteries are the most active field in energy storage technology research and application. Currently, energy storage battery technology is developing rapidly, and once a breakthrough is made, it will have a significant impact on the development of new energy, the operation and control of the power grid, and terminal energy consumption. In the future, energy storage battery technology will be widely used in the new generation of power system.
New energy storage battery technology has become the focus of current research and the forefront of technology
Currently, there are over 30 types of new energy storage batteries in commercial and demonstration applications, laboratory research, or conceptual design stages. Among them, batteries that have been demonstrated include tri-material lithium-ion batteries, all vanadium/zinc-bromine flow batteries, lead-carbon batteries, supercapacitor batteries, etc. Battery technologies that are in the laboratory research stage include new generation lithium-ion batteries such as graphene/lithium-sulfur/lithium-air, new generation flow batteries such as semi-solid state/thin-film-free, and metal-air batteries such as aluminum/zinc, as well as sodium/magnesium ion batteries and liquid metal batteries. Conceptually designed energy storage batteries include graphene supercapacitor batteries, dual-carbon batteries, nano-micro batteries, organic batteries, etc. These new energy storage battery technologies have become the focus of current research and the forefront of technology, and are expected to significantly improve the performance of energy storage batteries and promote large-scale applications of energy storage batteries.
Lithium-ion and flow batteries are expected to become the mainstream technologies for future energy storage batteries
Lithium-ion batteries are currently the most focused energy storage technology. Among the number of electrochemical energy storage demonstration projects, the proportion of lithium-ion batteries is the highest, reaching 48%, which ranks highest in battery energy storage. In the future, new generation lithium-ion battery technologies will bring about fundamental changes in battery safety, energy density, and charging time, and will have broad application prospects in grid peak regulation, electric vehicles, commercial/home energy storage systems, etc.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the International Energy Agency, and other organizations, around 2030, lithium-ion and flow batteries will break through the technology bottleneck, and the overall performance of batteries will be comprehensively improved, becoming the mainstream battery technologies with the most extensive commercial prospects, accounting for over 50% of the global energy storage battery capacity, and greatly promoting the development and application of energy storage battery technologies.
Innovative development of multiple energy storage battery technologies will play an important role in the new generation of power system
With the development and extensive application of multiple battery energy storage technologies in the future, energy storage batteries will be applied to various aspects of the power system such as “generation, transmission, distribution, consumption, and regulation”, and will have the potential to change the current way of power system production, transportation, and consumption, and promote the transformation of traditional power systems to the new generation of “broadly interconnected, smart interactive, flexible, safe, and controllable” power systems.
On the grid side, flow batteries are favored as large-capacity grid-level energy storage stations, which can provide various auxiliary services for the power grid, enhancing the flexibility and safety of grid dispatching and control. Flow batteries have technical advantages such as long cycle life, large capacity, fast response speed, and high safety. In the future, they are expected to replace the currently operational lithium-ion energy storage stations and develop into grid-level energy storage stations with capacities of over 100,000 kW, providing multiple auxiliary services such as peak regulation, peak smoothing, and voltage regulation, and playing a role in balancing power generation and consumption and dealing with emergencies in the power grid. At the same time, constructing large-capacity flow energy storage stations in areas such as large energy bases, central substations, load centers, and end regions of the power grid can fully utilize the important role of energy storage stations in mitigating local grid congestion and promoting power balance.