This is evident in many of the world’s leading regional energy storage markets, such as California, the UK and Texas’ ERCOT market, where average durations are in the range of 2- to 4-hour durations today versus perhaps an hour or less just a couple of years ago.
The cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage projects is 21.1GW/44.6GWh, and the power and energy scale have increased by more than 225% year-on-year. Figure 1: Cumulative installed capacity (MW%) of electric energy storage projects commissioned in China (as of the end of June 2023)
In the first half of the year, the capacity of domestic energy storage system which completed procurement process was nearly 34GWh, and the average bid price decreased by 14% compared with last year. In the first half of 2023, a total of 466 procurement information released by 276 enterprises were followed.
The energy storage industry is going through a critical period of transition from the early commercial stage to development on a large scale. Whether it can thrive in the next stage depends on its economics.
Independent energy storage stations lease capacity to wind power, PV, and other new energy stations. Capacity leasing is a stable source of income for owners of independent energy storage power stations. The capacity leased can be seen as energy storage capacity built for new energy projects.
In January 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the Implementation Plan for the Development of New Energy Storage during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period, emphasizing the fundamental role of new energy storage technologies in a new power system.