China - Dateline, Recent

Storyline:
Demand amps up for industrial, commercial energy storage solutions in China

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In China, where more and more businesses are looking to enhance their energy resilience and maximize cost savings, demand for industrial and commercial energy storage solutions is heating up.

As their name suggest, these systems can store excess energy generated during low-demand periods and release it when demand is high. Extra stored electricity can then be sold to the grid for profit, making them an attractive investment for companies.

Finally, a drop in the price of lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly used in large-scale energy storage solutions, is also driving interest.

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Gao Lei, head, energy storage business, State Grid Hefei Power Supply Company:

"Industrial enterprises, especially those in sectors like panel production, photovoltaics, photovoltaic energy storage, and intelligent manufacturing, have become much more willing to embrace energy storage. We already have nine user-side energy storage stations under construction."

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With an eye on the lucrative business opportunity, enterprises like New Giant Power are popping up to manage the process.

New Giant Power builds and manages energy storage facilities at industrial sites and shares the profits from the sales of energy with the companies who generate it.

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Ma Bo, general manager, New Giant Power, Chongqing Three Gorges Water Conservancy and Electric Power:

"By the second quarter, we expect that our orders will match the total for last year. It’s projected that this year’s total capacity will increase from 100,000 kilowatts to 300,000 to 400,000 kilowatts."

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According to Ma, each kilowatt of electricity can be sold for a profit of roughly 10 U.S. cents, 10 to 20 percent of which the company will share with their industrial partners.

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