Energy storage "run"

The development of energy storage from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day, with such a long history of development, is really nothing new, but capital markets obviously do not think so.

The concept of energy storage suddenly became popular this month. As of the 19th, the United States liquid battery giant ZBB rose as much as 123.4%. In the A-share market, Xinlong Electronics, which has a relationship with ZBB, once closed up.

The change in the stock price is due to new achievements in zinc-bromine battery R&D, but there is more logic behind the rise: the upgrading of communications networks, the rise of renewable energy such as wind power, and the large-scale expansion of new energy vehicles, driven by various factors. The huge energy storage market is rapidly generating.

Chemical energy storage will meet the explosive growth of energy storage, as the name suggests is to store energy. When I was in middle school, whenever I learned about electromagnetic induction, the physics teacher always told students that the electricity generated by the generator could not be stored. In fact, electricity can't be stored, but the capacity of equipment that can directly store electricity is too much. Of course, modern technology still thinks of many ways to convert electrical energy into other forms of energy storage. All of these methods can basically be categorized into three types: Mechanical energy storage, electromagnetic energy storage, chemical energy storage.

Among them, pumped energy storage (mechanical energy storage) is currently the most mature use of a type of energy storage, that is, the use of electric power when the load is low when the pumped water to the upper reservoir, the power load in the water again to the lower reservoir of the hydropower station. It can convert excess electricity when the grid load is low into high-value electricity during peak periods of the grid.

However, this method is limited by the natural conditions. As a result, chemical energy storage has obtained a certain amount of alternative space. How large is this space? According to Woori I&S Research, the global energy storage market will grow from 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 to 16 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, with an average annual compound growth rate of 26%.

In China, the demand for chemical energy storage is expected to reach 50 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.

A variety of technologies tend to mature At present, chemical energy storage research is mainly concentrated in lead-carbon, lithium-ion, sodium-sulfur, zinc-bromine and other media. For example, the "lead-carbon battery" produced by the domestic listed company Nandu Power Source Co., Ltd. has obtained the National Energy Science and Technology Achievement Appraisal Certificate issued by the National Energy Administration. Japan’s NGK Corporation has monopolized the sodium-sulfur battery technology and has commercialized it.

Recently, a news report even made the popular zinc-bromine battery red.

The world's first zinc-bromine flow battery storage mobile energy-saving system - "a new green environmental protection zinc bromide battery storage energy mobile protection system" technology project passed the acceptance, and obtained the State Grid Anhui Electric Power Company Highly qualified by acceptance experts. This project selected Anhui Meineng company's zinc bromide flow battery as energy Storage Power.

The bottom line of this company is not difficult to figure out. It is the product of cooperation between a subsidiary of a domestic listed company, Xinlong Electric Holdings, and ZBB Energy, a major American flow battery giant. The latter is the world's leading zinc bromide energy storage system manufacturer. Its energy storage system products are used in the U.S. military microgrid system and is also a supplier of energy storage systems for the smart grid project in Jeju Island, South Korea.

As an advanced energy Storage Battery system, zinc-bromine battery can reach 30,000 times of charge and discharge, which is 3-4 times of the life of lithium battery. The energy density of electric energy is about 3-5 times that of lead-acid battery, and the battery is not big. . In the future when all parts are made in China, the cost of zinc-bromine batteries will be close to that of ordinary lead-acid batteries.

Although it will take several years for the zinc-bromine battery to be widely promoted, the capital market has seen great prospects early on.

ZBB's share price has continued to soar this month. As of the 19th, the US stock market has gained as much as 123.40%. In March, Xinlong Electric's share price also rose to its daily limit. As of the close of March 20, the stock price rose 5.53%.

Communication and new energy give birth to a huge market ZBB's stock price soared. Recently, other stocks related concept stocks in US stocks also performed well. Up to now, the increase in the number of micro turbine generator makers, Capstone Turbine, has exceeded 30%, the US power equipment manufacturer US Superconductors The increase is also close to 15%.

“This phenomenon shows that the market is not only concerned with the breakthrough of individual technologies, but also at the future of the entire energy storage market.” Electric power industry analysts told reporters that with the large-scale upgrading of domestic communications networks, and the demand for wind power PV power stations With large-scale increase, the energy storage market is expected to develop rapidly.

According to GBII's forecast, the proportion of 3G/4G base stations will increase from 38.2% in 2012 to 54.5% in 2015. Currently, lithium iron phosphate batteries have been used as the mainstream energy storage batteries for 3G/4G base stations. In addition, domestic lead-carbon batteries and lithium batteries have entered the new energy micro-grid energy storage and wind energy storage demonstration projects.

Guotai Junan predicts that after 2015, wind and solar energy storage is expected to be gradually applied, and the market scale will reach 12 billion yuan.