China’s advance in large BESS, battery energy storage systems, continues. The last one to make news is the one inaugurated just these days by Datang Hubei Energy Development in the province of Hubai. A maxi plant that can be the title of the world’s largest sodium ion storage plant. The installation, the first phase of an even larger project, boasts a power of 50 MW and a storage capacity of 100 MWh. And even though the group’s final goal is to reach 200 MWh, already today it surpasses the 10 MWh sodium-ion BESS launched in May in Guangxi by China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage.
Stationary accumulation in China
One thing is certain: The capacity of stationary energy storage in China is taking flight. For the 14th five-year plan, the State Council of China has set a national target of 30 GW of non-hydroelectric storage by 2025, to which are added even more ambitious provincial targets. But growth is moving at a much higher rate. Just think that the country added 21.5 GW / 46.6 GWh of new storage installations in 2023. The predominant technology is that of lithium-ion batteries, but they are also rapidly becoming widespread sodium, flow or steering batteries.
Nevertheless, the market is not experiencing rosy times. Competition is on fire and revenue is falling. Wood Mackenzie’s “China grid-scale winning bid price tracker” shows that the average supply price of BESSs on a 2-hour network scale reached $106.4 per kWh in the first quarter of 2024. This is 45.1% lower than in the same quarter of 2023. Excess domestic supply is forcing producers to fight fiercely for market share with aggressive supply strategies and low margins.
The largest sodium ion storage plant in the world
The Datang Group’s BESS has earned the title of the world’s largest sodium ion storage plant thanks to a storage capacity of 100 MWh. The system consists of 42 containers containing battery modules supplied by Chinese HiNa Battery Technology and is equipped with a 110 kV processing station.
According to local media reports, the plant can be charged and discharged more than 300 times a year and can release electricity to meet the daily needs of approximately 12,000 households. Later, the capacity will be expanded to 200 MWh, but the company has not provided any road map for the moment.