Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, National Energy Administration, and National Data Administration issued the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of a New Power System (2024-2027)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which states that, Explore the construction of a batch of liquid flow batteries, flywheels, compressed air energy storage, gravity energy storage, etc. based on the requirements of climbing speed, capacity, long-term scale adjustment, economy, and safety in different application scenarios Energy storage power stations with various technological routes such as carbon dioxide energy storage, liquid air energy storage, sodium ion batteries, lead carbon batteries, etc. In the eyes of industry insiders, although the proportion of flow batteries in energy storage installations is not high, the "Plan" provides clear policy support for energy storage methods such as flow batteries, which helps guide funds and resources towards flow batteries The tilt towards battery technology promotes its research and application, creating favorable conditions for technological progress and industrial upgrading. At present, China's flow battery energy storage has formed a complete industrial chain, and the industry has gradually moved from the exploration and cultivation period to the development and promotion period. To achieve the healthy and orderly development of the domestic flow battery energy storage industry, the next step still needs to be taken We need to improve the market mechanism, standard system, iterate new technologies, and explore the integrated development of liquid flow and new energy systems for liquid flow energy storage. The market demand continues to rise As a long-term energy storage technology, flow batteries have significant advantages in terms of energy storage duration. In domestic flow battery energy storage projects, the storage time of flow batteries is generally more than 4 hours, and some projects require more than 4 hours for energy storage Up to 6 hours. The "2024 China Flow Battery Industry Development White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") recently released by the Energy Storage Application Branch of the China Chemical Physics Power Industry Association shows that flow battery manufacturers are actively promoting The expansion plan for flow battery production includes over 30 domestically signed, under construction, and operational flow battery production lines by 2023, involving vanadium flow batteries, iron chromium flow batteries, zinc bromine flow batteries, zinc iron flow batteries, and water-based batteries Various technological routes such as organic flow batteries have a total production capacity of 6GW/year, and it is expected that China's flow battery production capacity will soar to 30GW/year by 2025. It is expected that by 2025, the cumulative installed capacity of liquid flow battery energy storage in China will account for the proportion of new energy storage The proportion of cumulative installed capacity will reach 1.1%, and by 2030 and 2035, this proportion will increase to approximately 2.2% and 3.0%, respectively. Driven by national policy support and market demand, China's flow battery energy storage industry is accelerating its development, with rapid release of flow battery energy storage orders, an increase in newly registered enterprises, and continuous expansion of enterprise scale. According to statistical data, In 2022 and 2023, the scale of orders received by China's flow battery energy storage industry exceeded 11.3 GWh, an increase of more than 10 times compared to the total order volume in 2021 and before, reflecting the high demand for flow battery energy storage applications. Vigorous The demand for orders is driving the rapid expansion of flow battery energy storage related enterprises. Last year, the number of newly entered enterprises increased rapidly, and industrial clusters were initially formed. It is expected that the speed of industrial expansion will gradually accelerate in the future, and market competition will become increasingly fierce. The flow battery industry in our country is gradually transitioning from the exploration and cultivation stage to the development and promotion stage. The White Paper shows that over 95% of China's flow battery industry chain has achieved localization, and the degree of localization throughout the entire chain is Improving has created possibilities for further cost reduction and efficiency enhancement in the future. Since its invention, flow battery technology has taken more than 20 years to achieve significant localization in recent years. Prior to this, we had to rely on expensive imported ion exchange membranes. "- Zhang Cheng, General Manager of Yifu Energy Technology Nowadays, many components of flow batteries have been successfully localized, which greatly promotes the development of the flow battery industry. ■ There are still shortcomings and challenges Since 2023, various flow battery technologies such as vanadium, zinc iron, iron chromium, and all iron have flourished, and flow batteries have entered a period of full capacity and technological development. However, the industrialization of flow batteries still faces some shortcomings. There is still significant room for optimization and improvement in terms of technology, "Liu Yong, Secretary General of the Energy Storage Application Branch of the China Chemical Physics Power Industry Association, told China Energy News reporters. Compared to other energy storage products, flow batteries It has the advantages of long lifespan, high energy density, and high technological maturity, but its power density and energy density indicators need to be further improved, and new electrolyte systems need to be developed to optimize stack manufacturing and power control systems Design and other elements are used to significantly improve the power and storage capacity per unit volume and mass of flow batteries, achieving an overall energy storage efficiency of over 80%. Zhang Cheng believes that in the current market promotion and technology development process, optimizing the electrolyte is one of the key technologies to effectively reduce the installation cost of flow batteries. At present, the preparation cost of electrolytes is relatively high. In China, vanadium from stone coal Resources are abundant, but the cost of purifying and preparing electrolytes is extremely high. If the preparation path of electrolyte can be optimized and simplified, it is expected to significantly reduce the cost of electrolyte for energy storage in flow batteries. Industry insiders believe that there is still room for a decrease in the cost of flow batteries. In the current situation where the cost of lithium batteries continues to decrease, the cost competitiveness and business model of flow batteries require the cooperation of supply chain and industry chain enterprises Strive for synergy, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. In 2023, the price of battery grade lithium carbonate continues to decline, resulting in a nearly halving of the average price of lithium energy storage systems compared to early 2023. In this situation, there are more energy storage users Tending to purchase lithium iron phosphate energy storage systems, although the cost of flow batteries has been significantly reduced, they still face significant cost pressure under the same bidding conditions. It is worth noting that ion exchange membranes must be 'puncture resistant' Enhance independent research and development production capabilities to reduce costs. In addition, it is necessary to establish and improve the supply chain guarantee capability and engineering application of core raw materials and components such as stacks, electrolytes, bipolar plates, channel plates, and specialized pipelines Use integration capabilities Liu Yong spoke frankly. In addition, the current standard system for the flow battery industry is not sound, which restricts its large-scale application. The next step is to actively improve the technical standard system for flow battery energy storage products, systems, and engineering construction, and promote the healthy development of the industry.

Need to expand multi scenario applications Although China has formed a relatively complete industrial chain for flow battery energy storage, there is still a lot of room for improvement in technological level, improvement of standard system, reduction of comprehensive costs, and expansion of application scenarios. Although a series of standards have been introduced in the domestic flow battery energy storage industry, the specific standard system for flow batteries still needs to be improved. It is recommended to improve the intelligent manufacturing, planning and design, construction and installation of flow batteries The construction of standards for intelligent operation and maintenance, logistics and transportation, and the establishment of an industry chain standard system to ensure the full life cycle application of flow battery products Liu Yong frankly stated that further support is needed for innovation and research and development of

flow battery technology in the future, Relying on technological breakthroughs to enhance industrial value. For example, actively supporting innovation in key technologies such as electrolytes and ion membranes to improve performance indicators such as energy density and energy conversion efficiency. In addition, it is necessary to optimize the manufacturing process

of the fuel cell stack, To achieve the goal of reducing costs and increasing efficiency. In the eyes of industry insiders, the flow battery energy storage project has not yet achieved full commercialization, and the development of the industry still requires support from regulatory authorities. At present, regulatory authorities at all levels support the flow battery industry through demonstration projects, typical engineering,

and other means Develop and implement numerous demonstration projects. It is recommended that relevant enterprises thoroughly summarize the experience and shortcomings of these demonstration projects, and accelerate the market promotion and application of long-term energy storage for flow batteries. Next, we can actively explore the combination of long-term energy storage of flow batteries with other new energy systems and services, expand application scenarios and business models. Liu Yong said that flow batteries are a safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly energy storage method Technology has great potential and flexibility for long-term energy storage, and can be combined with energy systems in multiple fields such as solar energy, wind energy, electric vehicle charging stations, intelligent buildings, and smart transportation to form a mutually empowering energy supply model.