Energy Storage Connector Companies Strive To Break Through The Cost Dilemma

The profit model is not clear, and the industrial structure has quietly changed.

It is worth noting that most of the energy storage connector projects that have been built have not yet formed a stable and reasonable profit model. The phenomenon of idleness of the battery storage connector new energy grid-connected projects is common, and the price increase of raw materials has undoubtedly further aggravated the anxiety of the investment subjects.
"Take the construction of 10% of wind farms and 2 hours storage connector as an example. If the price of energy storage system rises by 0.3 yuan/watt-hour, calculated based on the current investment model of the enterprise, its internal rate of return will decrease by 0.2%, which is equivalent to an increase of 0.2 cents per kilowatt-hour in the cost of electricity." Tian Qingjun, the first vice president of Envision Energy, said that due to the lag in price transmission and the concentrated delivery of projects in the fourth quarter, it is expected that the price of energy storage will continue to rise in the second half of this year, which may lead to the overall postponement of the energy storage installation construction task, or the situation of phased construction and commissioning.
In addition to the price increase of energy storage systems, the prices of silicon materials and photovoltaic modules have also continued to rise recently. The superposition of various factors has further amplified the economic pressure on new energy investment subjects. Chen Chao, market director of Kehua Digital Energy, pointed out that if the new installation of "wind and light" does not meet expectations, the growth rate of energy storage as a supporting new energy project will also slow down. In his opinion, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the speed of new energy storage industry installation will show a development trend of "slow at the beginning and fast at the end".
Under the influence of multiple factors, the energy storage industry structure is undergoing subtle changes.
"Previously, investors tended to choose suppliers with performance and relevant cases, or companies with good product quality parameters. After this round of price increases, companies with metal resources such as lithium mines and sufficient battery cell supply capacity will have their competitiveness improved." Chen Chao believes that companies with integrated industrial chains will stand out in the next competition.
"For new energy companies, energy storage is a strong accessory of the project. The initial investment cost budget of 30 million yuan for the 20MWh project requires that the price of the energy storage system cannot exceed 1.5 yuan/Wh, so only cheap products can be selected, which will bury safety hazards." Industry experts emphasized that in the case of rising project costs, we must be more vigilant about the safety issues caused by ultra-low price bidding.
Multi-directional efforts to reduce costs and increase efficiency, get rid of the constraints of a single technical route

There is pressure from rising raw material prices in the front and market demand for cost reduction in the back. How should energy storage companies respond?
Since the beginning of this year, energy storage battery companies have started a new round of expansion. In January, China New Energy Aviation invested 20 billion yuan in Guangzhou and Jiangmen respectively to plan and build energy storage base projects; in March, Baofeng Group started a 200 GWh lithium-ion energy storage full industry chain project... According to incomplete statistics from reporters, in the first quarter of this year, the investment in the lithium battery field reached hundreds of billions of yuan, and the cumulative expansion exceeded 500 GWh. At the same time, industry chain manufacturers including CATL, BYD, Guoxuan High-tech, and Huayou Cobalt are accelerating the "mine rush" to get rid of the constraints of raw material price increases as soon as possible.
Chen Chao said that energy storage system suppliers should improve product consistency through technological progress, such as increasing voltage levels, reducing the number of batteries in series, and optimizing system cooling, and continuously reduce the full life cycle cost of energy storage systems.
Tian Qingjun believes that energy storage companies should work together in the three directions of "performance, safety, and cost reduction." He said that as the energy storage pricing mechanism is gradually clarified and the power markets in various regions are being steadily built, payment by performance will force energy storage companies to continuously improve product performance, such as increasing the energy density of battery cells, improving battery consistency, and reducing auxiliary system energy consumption. "The intelligent IoT operating system can predict power generation and electricity prices in real time, realize multi-source and multi-transaction coordination, provide owners with the best charging and discharging strategies, and ensure the benefits of energy storage power stations."