Bloomberg reports that additional energy storage enables the rapid growth of new energy. They write:
Energy storage is becoming so important in China that it’s drawing bigger crowds than Disneyland.
More than 170,000 visitors are expected to descend on a Shanghai convention center over three days this week to view battery assemblies ranging in size from a shoe box to a shipping container. On a daily average, that would be higher than attendance at the city’s Disney-themed amusement park last year. […]
The country has more than 1,200 gigawatts of combined wind and solar capacity after installations surged to records last year. Meanwhile, battery storage capacity is at 44 gigawatts, though it jumped 40% in the first half of the year.
“The most important factor is energy storage, which enables the rapid growth of new energy in the next step to achieve our carbon peak and carbon neutrality,” Qian Zhimin, the former chairman of utility giant State Power Investment Corp., said Tuesday at a conference preceding the exhibition. By 2030, China is expected to have 2,700 gigawatts of renewables and more than 300 gigawatts of battery storage, he said. […]
A storage build-out can’t come any sooner. Intermittent solar and wind generation is putting a strain on the system. Grid officials are having to curtail output from more turbines and panels this year to avoid overloading power lines.
In some regions experimenting with electricity markets, prices are falling to negative levels in the middle of the day, sapping profits and halting new developments, said Zhu Gongshan, chairman of solar manufacturer GCL Technology Holdings Ltd.
“If we add energy storage at this time, this problem will be solved,” he said.
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