Dyness Knowledge | Opportunities and challenges for C&I energy storage development

Industrial and commercial energy storage: Distributed energy storage different from grid-side energy storage and power-side energy storage

Positioning: energy storage mode adjusted by the user side

Figure 1 Application scenario of industrial and commercial energy storage

Industrial and commercial energy storage is the application of energy storage on the load side, and the load-side power regulation is realized through the battery charging and discharging strategy. Promoting the development of distributed energy and energy storage on the user side can improve the utilization rate of renewable energy, reduce the pressure on the power grid balance, and improve the safe and stable operation of the system.

Business model: Use the charging and discharging performance of energy storage batteries to help users make profits or save money

The essence of industrial and commercial energy storage applications is to use the characteristics of energy storage systems that can both charge and discharge. It can be used not only as a "power source" but also as a "load" to help users make profits or save money.

Figure 2 Schematic diagram of user-side peak-valley arbitrage

The benefits of industrial and commercial energy storage come from:

1) Help users save electricity bills (power bills + capacity/demand bills);

2) Demand side response rewards;

3) Participate in electricity spot market transactions.

Development and Opportunities:

1) Time-of-use electricity price + peak-to-valley price difference continues to widen, increasing revenue‍

With the continuous advancement of my country's electricity market, more regions have begun to implement the peak-valley electricity price policy. This means that the market prospect of industrial and commercial energy storage applications has become broader. Especially in 2023, the peak-to-valley price difference of power grid agency power purchase price will show a clear increasing trend. According to incomplete statistics, peak and valley electricity prices in more than 20 provinces and cities across the country have reached the profitability standard for energy storage. Industrial and commercial energy storage has outstanding benefits and broad prospects. It is estimated that by 2025, the installed capacity of my country's industrial and commercial energy storage market will reach 33.93 GWh.

2) Technological innovation

With the continuous emergence of new technologies, the efficiency, cost, and reliability of energy storage systems have been greatly improved. For example, lithium-ion battery energy storage systems have become the mainstream of the market. Its small size, large capacity, and long life can meet the requirements of industrial and commercial energy storage. At the same time, some companies have launched energy storage outdoor integrated cabinet products. Compared with the form of energy storage containers, in practical applications, it has the advantages of more flexibility, efficient delivery, support for stacking installation, and higher capacity utilization, and is widely favored by market users.

In addition, new technologies such as supercapacitors, fuel cells, nano energy storage, and compressed air energy storage are also emerging. This will further improve the technical level of industrial and commercial energy storage, reduce system costs, and promote the expansion of the energy storage market to a wider range of fields.

Development and Challenges:

However, with the large-scale development of energy storage, various challenges in the industry have also come one after another.

1) The current policies are not enough to support the large-scale development of energy storage. Energy storage requires the combination of the ancillary service market, capacity market, and spot market to be profitable.

2) The importance of energy storage in the power system is becoming more and more obvious, and new energy + energy storage is the trend of future development. But who will bear the increased cost has become a practical problem that new energy + energy storage must solve. "Who benefits, who pays" will be the ultimate solution, but how to do it involves various aspects. Only by dredging the interests of all parties and considering the source, network, load, and storage can the real problem be solved.

3) The safety of energy storage facilities has always been a concern. Many energy storage facilities put into operation are not used on a large scale, also to avoid safety risks brought about by the operation of power stations. Therefore, we must pay attention to and solve this risk problem in the early stage of the development of the energy storage industry.

In the future, industrial and commercial energy storage should give full play to its own advantages and integrate with various application scenarios and technologies such as distributed new energy power generation, micro-grid, energy management, charging, etc., to create more imagination space and profit methods. With the maturity of technology and the reduction of cost, the energy storage industry will show a real industrial explosion, and the future can be expected!