Compared with traditional fossil energy, the wind power and photovoltaic industries have the problem of unstable and intermittent power generation, which requires energy storage equipment's peak shaving and frequency regulation capabilities to solve. So what is energy storage?
Energy storage refers to the conversion of electrical energy into other forms of energy through physical or chemical means and storing it, and then converting the energy back into electrical energy when needed, similar to a large "power bank".
Currently, energy storage methods are mainly divided into two categories: physical energy storage and chemical energy storage. Physical energy storage mainly includes pumped storage, compressed air energy storage, cold storage and heat storage, and flywheel energy storage, while chemical energy storage mainly includes lithium-ion batteries, lead-acid batteries, flow batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and supercapacitors. New energy storage projects are energy storage projects other than pumped storage. The energy storage system is equivalent to a "reservoir", which can not only solve the problem of power system instability caused by new energy generation but also effectively improve the power utilization and supply-demand balance of new energy generation.
The energy system plays a critical role in collecting energy from various sources and converting it into various forms of energy needed for various sectors (such as utilities, industry, construction, and transportation). Energy sources such as fossil fuels can be used to provide energy according to customer needs and stored when not needed. However, other energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy need to be collected and stored until they are needed. The application of energy storage systems can provide various advantages to the energy system, such as allowing for a higher proportion of renewable energy supply and better economic performance. In addition, energy storage is crucial for the power system and can achieve load balancing, peak shaving, frequency regulation, as well as improve power quality and reliability.
Energy storage systems have been used for centuries and have undergone continuous improvement to reach their current level of development. So far, some storage types have developed relatively maturely, while others still need further development and improvement. There are various types of energy storage systems for different application scenarios, including electrochemical storage and battery storage, thermal storage, thermochemical storage, flywheel storage, compressed air storage, pumped storage, magnetic storage, chemical storage, and hydrogen storage.
In order to promote the high-quality and large-scale development of new energy storage, relevant state departments will accelerate the introduction of the "14th Five-Year Plan" for new energy storage and the management regulations for new energy storage projects. They will provide support policies tilted towards "new energy + energy storage," improve the peak-valley electricity price mechanism, and increase user-side energy storage benefits. They will also accelerate the construction of the medium and long-term electricity trading market, electricity spot market, and ancillary services market, promote energy storage to participate in various markets to obtain multiple benefits, and truly achieve payment based on effectiveness.
