Energy storage: China’s battery power sets stage for global leadership
Battery-based grid storage is set for 150 per cent growth in China, as Beijing prioritises energy security and firms eye global markets
On a sunny morning in late May, a massive laboratory designed to create extreme conditions – from melting heat to bone-cracking cold, howling sandstorms, corrosive ocean spray and even fire – officially opened in the coastal city of Xiamen, in eastern China’s Fujian province.
“Amid a profound transition into greener energy, energy storage is set to become the balancer and stabiliser upon which the new power system relies,” said Lu Jiazheng, director of the disaster prevention and reduction centre at a subsidiary of state-owned utility State Grid, at the inauguration ceremony for the Xiamen Energy Storage Validation Research Institute, known as the ESVL.
“China’s experience will ultimately provide the world with a model that serves as a valuable benchmark.”
Lu’s comments reflect Beijing’s ambition to accelerate commercialisation of battery-based grid-storage technology, known in the industry as battery energy-storage systems (BESS).
