New energy entering the market really opens up the value space of energy storage market.
On January 27th, 2025, the Notice of the National Energy Administration of the National Development and Reform Commission on Deepening the Market-oriented Reform of On-grid Electricity Price of New Energy to Promote the High-quality Development of New Energy (Development and Reform Price [2025] No.136, hereinafter referred to as "Document No.136") was issued, which promoted new energy to enter the electricity market in an all-round way, and proposed that the allocation of energy storage should not be a precondition for the approval, grid connection and internet connection of new energy projects. On April 10th, 2025, at the 13th Energy Storage International Summit and Exhibition Summit Forum, practitioners and research experts in the power industry discussed the opportunities and challenges brought by the comprehensive marketization of new energy sources to new energy storage. Xia Qing, a professor of Tsinghua University Electrical Engineering Department and vice chairman of the Energy Storage Committee of China Energy Research Association, presided over the discussion.
Experts attending the meeting believe that the competition of new energy into the market will generate real demand for energy storage and open up the value space of the new energy storage market. The energy storage industry has entered the stage of market competition and selection, which will promote the industry to pay more attention to equipment technology and quality.
Participants said that in the power system where the proportion of new energy is gradually increasing, new energy storage will play its due role and get corresponding returns. The market mechanism design should also pay more attention to the capacity value of energy storage, and rationally allocate energy storage according to different regions and types of power generation projects.
Zou Peng, an expert in spot market of Shanxi electric power, said that after the new energy comes into the market in an all-round way, more power generation entities will participate in the competition in the electricity market, which will help to form a price signal that more accurately reflects the supply and demand of electricity, and all types of power generation entities and power users will also be able to respond to the operation demand of the power grid more accurately.
Huang Feng, president of Chuneng New Energy Co., Ltd. believes that Circular 136 is "mixed" for the energy storage industry. What is "happy" is that the development of energy storage has changed from the compulsory allocation of new energy to the current market-oriented choice, and the demand for energy storage has changed from "whether there is" to "whether it is good". He said that after the withdrawal of the compulsory storage allocation policy, new energy owners will put forward higher requirements for the quality of energy storage equipment, market competition will also eliminate backward production capacity, promote the gradual regularization of production and operation enterprises, and enterprises committed to technology research and development can go further. "Worry" is how the energy storage equipment can really play its performance and role, and how much the power system needs for energy storage capacity, how much energy storage is in stock, and how much energy storage investment is needed in the next stage. These need to be further clarified.
Tian Qingjun, senior vice president of Yuanjing Energy and president of Yuanjing Energy Storage, said: "Circular 136 is essentially a redistribution of the value of the new energy industry chain and social value." Previously, wind power and photovoltaics were mainly acquired by guaranteeing quantity and price, and the income model was relatively considerable. "After entering the power market, the electricity price and mechanism price of new energy are competitive, and enterprises with real operational capabilities can make money. In this context, energy storage is bound to be good. "
He said that in the stage of compulsory allocation of new energy, the commercial value of energy storage is not obvious. After the withdrawal of the compulsory allocation policy, energy storage really returns to its commercial essence, that is, it gains income through value creation such as stabilizing the output of new energy, and the market space for energy storage really opens up. "Energy storage will become an important force to stimulate investment in the new energy industry."
Wang Shicheng, chairman and general manager of Beijing Suoying Electric Technology Co., Ltd. said that with the gradual increase in the proportion of new energy and the changes in the characteristics of the power system, the regulation capacity that can be obtained free of charge under the traditional power system needs to be purchased, which is the future income space of energy storage. Wang Shicheng also mentioned that the value of energy storage will be greater and greater. From the perspective of investment income, the energy storage industry should shift from "fighting for price" to paying more attention to the cycle life of energy storage systems and improving investment income.
"In the power system, the new energy storage must be a generalist." Li Wei, chief engineer of State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. said that in addition to the consumption of new energy, energy storage can play a positive role in power supply and participation in system regulation. Next, power grid companies and equipment manufacturers should jointly play a good role in energy storage through market-oriented means.
Tang Yuan, secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of the Comprehensive Energy Division of CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Research Institute Co., Ltd., said that after the publication of Circular 136, the opportunities and challenges of the energy storage industry coexist, and the policies and policy continuity introduced by subsequent provinces are the major influencing factors for energy storage investment. He stressed that in the context of the implementation of Circular 136, the development of energy storage should be tailored to local conditions.
Lu Yichuan, Chairman and General Manager of Beijing Xiehe Operation and Maintenance Wind Power Technology Co., Ltd. believes that there is a vast space for energy storage to create value. Wind power has great uncertainty, and the previously configured energy storage basically did not play a role. Under the new market mechanism, stock energy storage resources can play a great role in hedging the uncertainty of wind power. "Project owners should carefully plan and make decisions in the process of seeking to create greater value for existing assets through energy storage."
Guo Hongye, an associate researcher in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University, said that the criterion for measuring the effectiveness of various adjustment resources is whether resources can provide corresponding capacity support when the power system needs capacity; However, most of the time, the shortage of system capacity occurs in short periods such as late peak hours, and the short-term discharge of energy storage can meet the system capacity demand in this situation, thus generating greater capacity utility. Participants generally called for the establishment of a market mechanism to play the value of energy storage capacity.
In addition to large-scale energy storage, the industry is generally optimistic about the development prospects of industrial and commercial energy storage. Li Yu said that in the process of promoting the marketization of electricity, the time-of-use price mechanism will exist for a long time, and industrial and commercial energy storage has a reliable source of income. At the same time, the price of energy storage is still in a downward trend, and industrial and commercial energy storage has great development space in China, especially in areas with large peak-valley electricity price difference. He also mentioned that there will be multiple application scenarios for industrial and commercial energy storage by promoting new formats such as micro-grid and integration of source, network and storage.