Energy storage, in layman's terms, is the process of converting electrical energy into other forms of storage and releasing it as electrical energy when needed. It is like a huge "power bank", allowing electricity to be flexibly allocated across time and space.
The world's largest vanadium redox flow battery energy storage power station on the Gobi Desert in Jimusar County, Changji Prefecture, Xinjiang, is a new practice of this concept. This power station is composed of hundreds of energy storage unit modules, with an energy storage time of up to 5 hours and a total capacity of 1 million kWh. It has important pioneering demonstration significance for building a flexible and reliable new power system.
Driving the operation of this power station is the long-term cultivation of the energy storage technology research team of Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics). They have broken through the core technology of all-vanadium redox flow batteries, greatly reduced battery costs, and are committed to allowing clean electricity to "flow" to thousands of households far away, so that China's energy storage technology can be stable and lead the future.
This new era energy storage spirit of "accumulating innovation and surpassing oneself" has long been integrated into every challenge of the team. From deep roots and solid roots, to the establishment of a standard to expand the territory, to the stable and far-reaching, the team mission of "our career, the future of energy" was injected into the Pentium current by their actions, which also illuminated a breakthrough road belonging to China's energy storage technology.
Deep roots: from "a membrane" to "a battery"
From photovoltaic panels on the roof to wind turbines in distant mountains, renewable clean power sources are continuously changing the energy structure of our country. However, wind power, photovoltaic and other energy sources are volatile and intermittent, and their large-scale grid connection poses a challenge to the stable operation of the power system. In order to realize the efficient use of clean energy, we must rely on the support of safe, long-term and large-scale energy storage technology.
"It can be said that large-scale energy storage is the key support for the mainstream application of renewable energy." Li Xianfeng, a researcher at Dalian Institute of Chemical Technology and head of the energy storage technology research team, knows that this is a "must-answer question" related to the future of national energy ". The ideal large-scale energy storage system needs to meet three conditions at the same time-high safety, long cycle life and good life cycle economy, and does not cause significant environmental burden after retirement. Based on these goals, among many technical routes, all-vanadium redox flow batteries have entered the team's field of vision due to the advantages of intrinsic safety and recoverable capacity.
However, the reality is cruel: the cost of electrolyte remains high, and the core materials rely on imports. In particular, the ion-conducting membrane, which is called the "soul" of the battery, has been monopolized by foreign countries for a long time and is expensive.
The membrane material mainly plays the role of blocking the positive and negative electrodes and transmitting ions. The higher the ion conductivity of the membrane, the worse the ion selectivity, and the ions are easy to "cross the door" with each other, causing side reactions and affecting the performance. The team decided to jump out of the rut and seek a breakthrough in the most basic mass transfer mechanism. They thought of a clever direction: different ions in the flow battery have different radii. Can small protons pass through and large vanadium ions be stopped by regulating the pore size of the membrane?
With this idea in mind, the team started with the innovation of molecular structure and put forward the concept of "ion screening conduction". Through exquisite molecular design, a nano-scale exclusive channel was constructed in the membrane. Like setting up an intelligent checkpoint, only protons were allowed to pass through efficiently, thus blocking vanadium ions from "visiting the gate".
At the same time, improving the working current density of the stack is also a core direction for the team to focus on breakthroughs. However, in the initial stage, while maintaining the energy conversion efficiency of the stack not less than 80%, its working current density is only 80 mA/cm2, which is difficult to meet the needs of industrialization.
The team focused on every detail in the reaction and transfer process in the battery, optimized the flow field design, improved the performance of the stack in all directions, and finally successfully developed a high power density stack.
Through the independent innovation of key materials and core components, they not only broke the foreign technology monopoly, but also paved the way for the large-scale application of vanadium redox flow batteries.
set up a standard to expand the border: from "Dalian demonstration" to "national flowering"
the breakthrough in the laboratory will eventually be tested in engineering practice. To this end, the team cooperated with Dalian Rongke Energy Storage Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Rongke Energy Storage), an industrialized company that transforms achievements, to form a closely coordinated "consortium".
this is a cooperation with complementary advantages: Dalian chemical institute, relying on its basic scientific research strength, focuses on the research and development of core technologies such as high-performance and low-cost key materials in the upstream. Rongke Energy Storage focuses on the design and integration of downstream all-vanadium redox flow battery materials, mass production of electric reactors and large-scale energy storage systems. "In order to promote the technological innovation and high-quality development of all-vanadium redox flow battery energy storage, it is not feasible to rely solely on enterprises, universities and scientific research institutes. We must cooperate to achieve the effect of' 1+1 POSTFIX_ANGLE_BRACKET_~ 2." Wang Xiaoli, general manager of Rongke energy storage, said.
In the pilot base 150 kilometers away from the urban area, the R & D team "set up camp" here to carry out the amplification and preparation of membrane materials. However, in the development process, they have encountered external and internal "double challenges".
From a few square centimeters of laboratory-level membrane materials to tens of thousands of square meters of mass production, a larger experimental site is required, and the team can only use the enterprise plant to carry out experiments. They stayed here for 40 days, just to gnaw this "hard bone" in mass production ".
However, the "internal problems" that follow are the biggest difficulties facing the team. In the laboratory stage, the area of the membrane material is only a few square centimeters, and the casting solution used is also relatively dilute. However, during the scale-up process, these casting fluids flow everywhere on the base membrane, making it difficult to continue the mass production of membrane materials.
The team then thought of increasing the concentration of the casting solution and increasing the viscosity to control the flow. However, the flow was under control, and new problems emerged-many holes of different sizes appeared on the surface of the membrane material. It turned out that the thick casting solution was wrapped in bubbles and could not be discharged, leaving holes after molding, affecting uniformity.
In view of this, the team introduced the vacuum stirring defoaming process, and jointly developed a new vacuum stirring defoaming machine. Through precise control of the vacuum degree and stirring speed, the bubbles are "forced" out of the casting solution. In the end, the membrane material with excellent uniformity was successfully offline, and the most difficult hurdle was passed by them.
Dalian flow battery energy storage peak power station phase I project (100MW/400MWh) officially connected to the grid on October 30, 2022. It is a new type of high-efficiency electric energy storage device, which can be used as a large-scale energy storage device in the process of wind energy, solar energy and other renewable energy power generation and grid peak shaving, so as to improve the flexible adjustment ability and reliability of Liaoning power grid.
The Dalian demonstration was successful, but the team's footsteps did not stop-technology must prove its universality and vitality in a more complex and diverse environment. So, a "technology expedition" began. The team and Rongke energy storage to carry out long-term close industry-university-research cooperation, with solid technology accumulation, and actively promote the commercial application of all-vanadium flow battery.
At the end of 2024, the first 100-megawatt shared energy storage power station in China's severe cold region, which is technically supported by the team, will be put into operation in Songyuan, Jilin Province. In the extreme environment of minus 30 degrees Celsius, the all-vanadium redox flow battery system operates stably, solving the problem of new energy consumption and grid peak regulation in alpine regions. The construction of this power station is also an active exploration of shared energy storage. After it is put into operation, it will provide distribution and storage capacity for 13 new energy power generation companies in Jilin Province, reducing the investment pressure of power generation companies to build supporting energy storage devices.
At the end of 2025, the world's largest flow battery power station in Jimusar, Xinjiang, was put into operation, once again setting a new scale record. In the face of the desert Gobi temperature difference between day and night and sand erosion, the power station provides a "model" for large-scale new energy base supporting energy storage ".
The benchmark can stand and the territory can be expanded. This road, they will continue to go.
Steady and far-reaching: from "technology output" to "ecological construction"
behind supporting this road to go more steadily and farther, there is a scientific research team with combat effectiveness and inheritance. Everyone knows that the vitality of technology lies not only in breakthroughs, but also in people. At that time, Zhang Huamin, a researcher at Dalian Institute of chemical engineering, returned from Japan. With the belief of "science serving the country", he led the team to start from "zero" and gnawed down the "hard bone" of key materials and system integration of all vanadium redox flow battery, laying the first cornerstone for the latecomers. The spirit of daring to gnaw "hard bones" gradually integrated into the blood of the team.
In the key technology research team of energy storage, a group of energetic young scholars have gradually become the backbone. The team fully trusts young people, gives them independent research space, and encourages them to explore boldly and make breakthroughs. It is in such an atmosphere that a group of young researchers such as Yuan Zhizhang and Xie Congxin have grown rapidly and published many important results in journals such as "Nature-Energy" and JACS.
"The team never set limits for us, but only provided us with a direction and then told us to 'try it'. This kind of atmosphere that dares to let go and gives full support in the critical period makes us dare to dream and realize our dreams." Xie Congxin, an associate researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Engineering, lamented.
This kind of "symbiosis" spirit handed down from generation to generation also keeps the team vigorous and innovative. In addition to all-vanadium redox flow batteries, they are also actively laying out diversified technical paths: in 2025, the innovative achievements of bromine-based redox flow batteries published in Nature-Energy provide a new path for low-cost long-term energy storage; In the same year, the 100 kilowatt-hour phosphate-based sodium ion battery energy storage system was connected to the grid in Shandong, showing the application potential of distributed energy storage.
After the technology moves towards large-scale application, the team's thinking extends to a broader level: how to build a healthy and sustainable industrial ecology?
As the main technology of long-term energy storage, the healthy development of liquid flow batteries requires the consensus and cooperation of the whole industry. In 2022, Dalian Chemical Institute and Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance initiated the establishment of a flow battery energy storage technology professional committee. This platform brought together all parties involved in production, learning, research, and use to jointly plan the long-term layout of the energy storage industry.
In April 2025, the "2024 Flow Battery Energy Storage Industry Research White Paper" was released at the Energy Storage International Summit. The white paper systematically interprets the current state of technology and industry prospects, and provides a clear road map for policy makers, investors and industrial chain enterprises.
Behind the direction is the action. Dalian Chemical Institute, as the leading sponsor in China, put forward the new international standard proposal of "General Requirements and Test Methods for All Vanadium Redox Flow Battery Reactor", which was unanimously approved and formally approved. This will help to improve the high-quality and large-scale development and application of flow batteries, and enhance China's international influence and voice in the field of flow battery technology.
Facing the future, Li Xianfeng said that the team will further reduce costs, improve the reliability of batteries, and promote large-scale industrialization, "striving to provide important technical support for my country's energy structure adjustment and achieving the'double carbon' goal".