This year, in addition to lithium, all kinds of new energy storage technology performance bright.

Sodium power, highly respected by Ningde era, BYD, Yiwei lithium energy and other head lithium-electric enterprises, after the rebound in lithium carbonate prices, more attention, from power batteries to AIDC, to independent energy storage, this year has been a number of 100 MWh sodium energy storage projects started.

liquid flow, especially all-vanadium liquid flow, as a representative of long-term energy storage, has started several GWh of all-vanadium liquid flow independent energy storage projects this year with the acceleration of long-term energy storage and the sharp rise in heat after the 200MW/1GWh of the world's largest Three Gorges energy source in Xinjiang was put into operation at the end of 2025.

Flywheel, relying on millisecond response, has outstanding advantages in frequency modulation, and has gained blessing through the combination of lithium iron phosphate. This year, a number of "flywheel lithium iron phosphate" hybrid independent energy storage demonstration projects have appeared in Shanxi, Hubei and other places.

compressed air energy storage, relying on the advantage of large capacity peak shaving, has become an important participant in long-term energy storage. at present, the domestic record or projects under construction are estimated to be tens of GWh, which should not be underestimated. among them, the 1.05GW/6.3GWh compressed air energy storage project in wulanchabu, inner Mongolia, is quite eye-catching.

In the context of the new energy storage "big dry fast", as an important supplement to lithium technology, all kinds of new energy storage technology, blooming, ushered in the industrialization of the key window period.

01

The demand is soaring, and there are more water and more fish

In the final analysis, the demand is too large.

new energy storage rose to the country's "emerging pillar industry", coupled with the introduction of the capacity electricity price policy, the subsequent more and more central state-owned enterprises funds "running into the field", the new energy storage is getting a steady stream of ammunition support.

In addition, the impact of the international situation, oil and gas prices fluctuate greatly, new energy will assume more and more important strategic tasks, and in the process of promoting the consumption of new energy, new energy storage is bound to assume more and more important role in the long term.

In addition, the expansion of demand for many scenarios, such as electricity synergy, green hydrogen ammonia alcohol, green electricity direct connection, source network load storage, zero carbon park, etc., further increases the development space of new energy storage.

These are not controversial.

according to the special action plan for large-scale construction of new energy storage (2025-2027) issued by the national development and reform Commission and the national energy administration, it is planned that the new installed capacity will exceed 100GW in 2025-2027 and reach 180GW by the end of 2027. if calculated according to the average 4h, the new installed capacity will exceed 400GWh and reach 720GWh in three years.

There is no time to wait.

The demand for new energy storage has soared, providing the soil for the development of major technical routes, and the inclusiveness has become stronger and stronger. Especially after the experience and precipitation in the past few years, many new energy storage technologies are themselves On the verge of industrialization, and the stimulation of downstream demand has naturally created opportunities for breakthroughs in these technologies.

There are many fish in the water.

02

The scene is diverse, and the relative advantages are highlighted

All kinds of new energy storage technologies have different advantages and complementary development.

There is no perfect technology, only the right technology.

Even the most widely used lithium iron phosphate technology at present, there are many criticisms, such as safety, low temperature performance, energy density and cycle times, etc. The key is that there is a certain import dependence on upstream lithium resources, and the price fluctuates greatly.

In contrast, other new energy storage technologies also have comparative advantages.

Sodium power, although the current cost is still high, the energy density and the number of cycles are relatively low, but the theoretical cost is low, and the resources are rich. It has obvious advantages over lithium power in terms of safety and low temperature performance. Data centers with higher security and cold areas with higher low temperature performance requirements have their own advantages.

all vanadium redox flow battery, "intrinsically safe", has a service life of up to 20 years and extremely slow decay. although the initial investment cost is relatively high, the return on investment or the cost of electricity in the whole life cycle already has certain attraction, especially in the field of 6h long time, the cost advantage of electricity is more obvious than lithium battery.

Flywheel energy storage has the advantages of high power density, millisecond response and long cycle life. It can provide fast power support in the early stage of frequency disturbance, and has obvious advantages in the field of power grid frequency modulation.

Compressed air energy storage, although it has certain constraints in physical space, has the characteristics of low cost, high efficiency and large capacity, and has certain advantages in grid side energy storage.

There is no "hexagonal" technology, but one trick may eat all over the sky.

In fact, at present, whether it is sodium electricity, all vanadium liquid flow, or flywheel, a very important application method is to "mix" with lithium iron phosphate technology, which in itself shows these new technologies The mutual integration and complementarity of lithium batteries.

With the overall development of the new energy storage, the scene is going deep, and the scale of the subdivided scene is also getting larger and larger, which is enough to support the development of a single technology, which provides more space for different new energy storage technologies and can support related enterprises, especially the head enterprises, to do large-scale.

03

lithium price disturbance, preempting the share of iron and lithium

Lithium is still the main role of new energy storage.

However, lithium batteries are more sensitive to fluctuations in the price of lithium salts. Since the second half of last year, the price of lithium carbonate has increased significantly. At present, the price of lithium carbonate has remained at a high level of about 160000 yuan/ton, and the price of batteries has also increased significantly., Even the supply is tight.

The rising price of lithium has created opportunities for other technologies.

for example, sodium battery has always been the main competitor of lithium battery, with a large number of bosses. whenever the price of lithium carbonate rebounds, it is mentioned as a spare tire. the advantages of sodium battery are low temperature performance, fast charging, environmental adaptability (high cold/high power), stable chemical structure, safer, higher system integration, and the richness and availability of raw materials. currently, it is in the process of technological progress and cost reduction, the long term is worth imagining.

for another example, the initial cost of the system has been reduced to about 2 yuan/Wh, but the service life is as high as 20 years, and the decay is extremely slow, and the resources can be recovered. while the initial cost of the lithium iron phosphate battery system is about 0.7-0.8 yuan/Wh, but the service life is generally about 10 years, and the decay is fast, and the recovery value is low, the two technologies are not much different in terms of full-cycle IRR/kWh cost.

in short, with the large-scale development of energy storage technologies such as sodium electricity, all-vanadium liquid flow, flywheel and compressed air, its cost and performance are expected to be further improved, while the cost and performance optimization space of lithium iron phosphate are already very limited, especially the cost may "rise instead of fall" due to the fluctuation of lithium price, and these emerging technologies are expected to gain more market share.

New energy storage has become a new pillar industry in the country. In the future, it is bound to continue to grow with the development of new energy sources. There are many water and fish. Besides lithium battery technology, other energy storage technologies are bound to get a share. At present, they are in the key window period of industrialization of these new technologies and need to be cherished.