Lately, PV companies have turned their attention to energy storage, driving the energy storage market heat to continue to rise. Whether the energy storage market will break out, and whether there will be new opportunities in the combination of PV and storage energy will become the common concern of the public. In response to these questions, the director at China Energy Storage Alliance(CNESA) made an analysis. 

 

It Takes Time to Commercialize Energy Storage

Zhang Jing, supervisory of CNESA, said that in the short term, it’s difficult for “photovoltaic + energy storage” model to achieve win-win situation.

 

Since the new energy power generation is greatly affected by the external environment, the power generation output has certain volatility. Therefore, the power grid cannot achieve 100% complete consumption of new energy sources, and the difficulty in new energy power generation is highlighted. The emergence of energy storage seems to be a promising solution to this problem. Photovoltaic + energy storage and wind power + energy storage are regarded as one of the effective means to improve the utilization efficiency of new energy. However, before the new photovoltaic policy, this effective method has not won much favor from photovoltaic companies because of its low economy.

 

According to the data from CNESA, by the end of last year, the cumulative installed capacity of electrochemical energy storage in China was 389,800 kilowatts, of which the installed capacity of centralized renewable energy grid-connected field was about 29%, while the ratio was 41 in 2012 and 32 in 2013. That’s to say, the progress of centralized renewable energy grid-connected energy storage facilities has not been very rapid in recent years.

 

In the absence of subsidies for energy storage, it is still difficult to make a profit of this simple photovoltaic energy storage mode if it only increases the economic benefit of photovoltaic power generation by selling the unconnected photovoltaic energy stored in the storage power station.

 

Hence, under the premise of increasing electricity marketization, through the business model innovation, technological change, cost reduction and other means to solve the profit problem of photovoltaic + energy storage, energy storage can truly become a "life-saving straw".

 

The Combination of PV and Energy Storage is One of the Ways of Photovoltaic Marketization

Zhang Jing said: “Although the current energy storage for the photovoltaic enterprises can not achieve immediate effect, in the long run, the introduction of new PV policies will further promote the integration of the two technologies, stimulate the development of new market opportunities, and prepare for relevant technologies, applications and standards. Ultimately, the two technologies will be jointly marketed to achieve higher added value in the electricity market. ”

 

The ultimate goal of photovoltaics to achieve parity is the direction of national policies. Consequently, some enterprises with sufficient funds, strong crisis awareness and long-term layout have already turned their attention to the cooperation with storage energy. For example, companies such as GCL and Tianhe have been exploring the mode and applied innovation work of combination of PV and energy storage.

 

According to Zhang Jing, the combination of PV and energy storage is one of the ways for PV to be marketized. At present, the key is how to use the market mechanism, explore model innovation to effectively solve the profitability problem. She disclosed that the alliance is measuring the economic benefits of “PV+energy storage” under different modes. Some measurements will be released later.

 

Additionally, after the decline of photovoltaic subsidy, the relevant market mechanism and price mechanism should be further improved to create a more favorable market environment for the combination of PV and energy storage.

 

As a matter of fact, along with the increasing gap of electricity prices in various regions, the advantages of combining PV and energy storage will become more prominent. In distributed photovoltaic, the mode of "photovoltaic + energy storage" has achieved certain market operation results. In Beijing, Shenzhen, Jiangsu and other regions with large price difference, energy storage can store photovoltaic power that can not be consumed by the grid and sell it at the peak price, or use it at the peak price, which can achieve profit.