Foshan, Guangdong, located in the hinterland of the Pearl River Delta, is an important manufacturing base in my country. At the beginning of 2024, in this important node city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a newly built energy storage power station will add new impetus to the development of my country's strategic emerging industries.

On January 3, reporters learned from China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Southern Grid Energy Storage") that the independent battery energy storage station on the Baotang power grid side of Foshan (hereinafter referred to as "Baotang Energy Storage Station") was put into operation. , the installed capacity is 300MW/600MWh. This is the largest energy storage power station in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the largest grid-side independent energy storage power station built at one time in my country, directly increasing the total number of new energy storage units in operation in Guangdong by about 20%. This power station has achieved the "one-stop integration" of multiple lithium battery energy storage technology routes for the first time in my country, which will effectively enhance the technological leanness of the new energy storage industry.
Build an “urban power bank” that can deliver 430 million kWh of clean electricity every year
Energy storage power stations, like large "power banks" in cities, can use clean energy such as wind and solar energy to "charge" when power consumption is low. During peak power consumption, these green electricity can be stably and reliably delivered to thousands of households. It is an important technology and basic equipment for building a new power system and an important support for achieving the "double carbon" goal.
As of the end of September 2023, my country has completed and put into operation new energy storage projects with a cumulative installed capacity of 21.23 million kilowatts, ranking among the top in the world, and an industrial ecosystem has initially taken shape. Among them, electrochemical energy storage represented by lithium batteries accounts for more than 90% of new energy storage and is in an absolutely dominant position.
In the Baotang Energy Storage Station, which covers an area of 58 acres, equivalent to the size of five and a half standard football fields, 88 sets of lithium iron phosphate energy storage systems are neatly arranged in seven areas. A two-story main control building stands in the middle line. Two 110 kV lines pass through the tower and are connected to the power supply area. However, this energy storage power station, which appears to be composed of "containers" of varying sizes, has a very complex internal structure, including battery clusters, battery management systems, energy storage converters, energy management systems and other important systems. When the power station is running, it can realize "accurate" charging, storage and release of electric energy in the energy storage system, and quickly respond to the power system adjustment needs in "milliseconds".
According to the calculation of "two charges and two discharges" every day, the Baotang energy storage station can deliver 430 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area every year, meeting the electricity needs of 200,000 residents and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 300,000 tons. “New energy storage has the advantages of fast response, flexible layout, and short construction period. It can accurately match the load needs of the power grid, maximize its regulatory value to the power system, and help unstable and volatile clean energy to be connected on a large scale and at a high proportion. into the power grid." Wang Zhiqiang, chairman of China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Technology Company, introduced.
Build a "big arena" for performance comparison of 9 energy storage technology routes
While my country's new energy storage industry is developing on a large scale, technology is also showing a diversified development trend.
The Baotang energy storage station project will be launched at the end of 2022. According to the current national standards, a "large energy storage power station" with a scale of 100 megawatts is considered. “How to make good use of the 300 MW scale” is a question that the builders in the early stages of the project have been thinking about. "In addition to providing regulation services to the power grid, we also hope that the project can promote the technological development of the energy storage industry. To this end, we decided to build a lithium battery energy storage station with multiple technical routes." Wang Zhiqiang said.
Currently, in the field of lithium battery energy storage in my country, innovative entities in the industrial chain focus on major issues such as safety, quality, and efficiency, and continuously promote technological iterative upgrades. Batteries generate heat during operation, and thermal management technology to control temperature is an important factor affecting the safety of energy storage power stations. "Baotang energy storage station uses three thermal management technologies, including air cooling technology that 'air-conditions' the battery, general liquid cooling technology that 'cold plate contacts the battery to cool down' and immersion liquid cooling that 'coolant directly soaks the battery' technology." Liu Bangjin, general manager of the Construction Center of China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Technology Company, introduced.
In terms of structural connection, Baotang energy storage station has as many as five connection methods, including string type, bipolar type, unipolar type, low-voltage cascade, and high-voltage cascade. Among them, "high-voltage cascade" is the key technology of China Southern Power Grid's first batch of "unveiling and commanding system" scientific research projects, and the physical result "my country's first high-voltage mobile energy storage station" will be put into operation in Baoding, Hebei in early 2023. This new technology directly increases the voltage of the energy storage system to 10 kV through module cascading, achieving the same efficiency while significantly reducing the number of energy storage systems. The energy storage system that eliminates the need for transformers can be flexibly moved, solving the traditional problem of The problem of limited energy storage application scenarios has quickly become a "hot topic" in industry R&D applications. "Compared with the Hebei Baoding system, the two sets of high-voltage cascade energy storage systems installed at the Baotang Energy Storage Station have achieved technical optimization in terms of hardware structure and control protection, and their overall performance is better." Southern Power Grid Energy Storage High-voltage Cascade Research Team Member Li Yongqi said, pointing to the newly put into operation high-voltage cascade battery cabin.
It is understood that there are also as many as five battery supply companies for Baotang Energy Storage Station, all of which are the "leading companies" in domestic lithium iron phosphate battery production. Through the "one-stop integration" of the best products of multiple battery companies, the power station will promote comparison with users and promote the continuous improvement of my country's lithium battery manufacturing quality.
"We focus on the three main technical areas of lithium batteries: thermal management, structural connection, and battery performance, and combine different technical methods to form 9 technical routes. The installed capacity of each route ranges from 5 MW to 75 MW. This is quite Yu brought together nine medium-sized energy storage stations with different technical characteristics to form a 'big arena' for comparison of technical performance." Wang Zhiqiang said facing hundreds of "densely lined" battery cabins.
Mining the “data bonanza” covering 20 key technical indicators
The "big arena" has been set up, how to evaluate the "level" of operating performance of different technical routes, and the key technical indicator data "has the final say".
In the multi-technical route verification plan of Baotang Energy Storage Station, "indicators" are "high-frequency words", including key technical indicators in different fields such as thermal management, structural connection, and cell performance, as well as energy storage, batteries, transformers, etc. There are as many as 20 key technical indicators in different fields such as flow controllers, which will form a "data bonanza".
Taking the battery operating performance evaluation as an example, Baotang energy storage station operators evaluated "same brand, different thermal management technology, same structural connection", "same brand, same thermal management technology, different structural connection" and "different brand, same thermal management technology". , connected with the same structure", four key indicators were compared: battery voltage consistency, battery temperature uniformity, system available energy, and battery capacity attenuation.
"We use the 'control variable method' of scientific experiments, and under the condition that the technical methods of the two technical fields are exactly the same, it will be very intuitive to compare the key technical indicators of the remaining technical field." Operator of China South Grid Energy Storage Technology Company Wang Jin, general manager of the center, demonstrated in front of the screen of the data system.
Recently, my country announced 56 new energy storage pilot demonstration projects, aiming to promote the diversified development of new energy storage. The complete set of evaluation results of the multi-technical routes of the Baotang Energy Storage Station will provide important empirical reference for the technological application and industrial development of new energy storage in my country.