【Ferro-alloys.com】China has set a target to cut its battery storage costs by 30% by 2025 as part of wider goals to boost the adoption of renewables in the long-term decarbonization plan, according to its 14th Five Year Plan, or FYP, for new energy storage technologies published late March 21.

The plan, jointly published by China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, also sets out ambitious targets for energy storage by 2025, including breakthroughs in hydrogen-based storage, and the development of new energy storage technologies for commercialization and large-scale implementation.

The FYP calls for collective development of various new energy storage technologies, including sodium-ion batteries, new lithium-ion batteries, lead-carbon batteries, flow batteries, compressed air, hydrogen (ammonia), and thermal (cold) energy storage technologies.

By 2030, China plans to build up domestic capabilities in all new core energy storage technologies, including technological and manufacturing, to meet the needs of the future power system and achieve peak carbon emissions by 2030, the plan said.

In particular, the FYP called for developing more pilot projects and conducting follow-up evaluation of existing pilot projects in Hebei, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu and Qinghai provinces, mainly comprising storage integrated with local power grids. In the long run, energy storage will play an increasingly important role in addressing the intermittency of renewables, which will dominate the future power system.

China's electrochemical energy storage cost in the power sector was between Yuan 0.6-0.9/kwh ($0.10-$0.14/kwh) in 2019, while large-scale implementation requires costs below Yuan 0.4/kwh ($0.06/kwh), according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Hence, the proposed 30% cost reduction target can pave the way for large-scale deployment of battery storage in the power sector.

The FYP called for a wider ecosystem of government and private entities to build the battery storage sector, and emphasized the role of market forces including generation utilities and independent energy storage service providers in investing in storage projects.

It said the gap between peak and trough electricity prices need to widen to pass on energy storage costs to electricity consumers, as well as motivate consumers to invest in energy storage. Energy storage service providers should be regarded as independent participants in the power markets, and clearer policies will be made to lower barriers for market entry, market mechanisms, technological standards, as well as trading, dispatching and settlement rules, the FYP said.

• [Editor:zhaozihao]