Recently, at the 15th Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as "CIES2025") held not long ago, Wang Zeshen, Secretary-General of the Association, revealed a series of important information about energy storage cell technology, showing us the latest development trend and broad prospects of the energy storage industry.
In terms of market share, in the fourth quarter of 2024, the share of energy storage cells above 300Ah in the global large-scale energy storage market has approached 50%. This data fully shows the strong competitiveness of large-capacity energy storage cells in the market. Domestically, Inner Mongolia topped the national energy storage market with a power scale of over 10GW, while Xinjiang led the way in terms of capacity, with both places having an installed capacity of more than 20GWh.
In terms of technical routes, lithium iron phosphate batteries are still firmly on the throne of the mainstream technical route. In 2024, the new installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate battery energy storage projects will reach 39.38GW/96.14GWh, accounting for 92.64% of the power. However, the trend of diversified development of energy storage technology is also becoming more and more obvious. Flow battery energy storage projects have entered the GWh scale, and a number of compressed air energy storage projects have successfully added new capacity, such as the 300MW projects in Yingcheng, Hubei Province and Feicheng, Shandong Province, and the liquid air energy storage power station in Hebei Construction Investment Energy Storage has also been successfully connected to the grid for trial operation. At the same time, the first 100 MWh sodium-ion battery energy storage project was connected to the grid, the first 100 MW semi-solid-state battery energy storage project was also successfully put into operation, and the Changzhi 30MW flywheel energy storage independent frequency modulation power station was also connected to the grid, all of which marked the blossoming of energy storage technology.
When it comes to the prospects of the battery cell market, exciting news keeps coming. It is expected that by the second half of 2025, 500Ah+ battery cells will be mass-produced one after another. This new cell represents higher energy density and stronger energy storage capacity, which is expected to further meet the growing power demand and bring new vitality and change to the energy storage market. At present, many leading enterprises such as CATL, EVE Lithium Energy, Rept Battero, Envision Energy Storage, and Gotion Hi-Tech have laid out and actively developed 500Ah + large-capacity energy storage cells. Not only that, 600Ah+ or even 700Ah+ single cells may emerge in the future, which will greatly improve the integration efficiency of energy storage systems, and the system capacity is expected to increase to 6MWh or even exceed 8MWh. For example, in the second quarter of 2025, Hithium plans to deliver its 6.25MWh 2h/4h full-scenario large-capacity energy storage system globally, of which the 2h energy storage system is based on 587Ah energy storage cells, and the 4h energy storage system is based on 1175Ah energy storage cells. Nandu Power's 690Ah ultra-large capacity energy storage battery will also be mass-produced and delivered by the end of 2025, with a volume energy density of 380 - 440Wh/L, a cycle life of up to 15,000 cycles, and a 20-foot energy storage system equipped with this battery with a capacity of up to 6MWh.
Figure: 500Ah+ energy storage cells will be mass-produced in the second half of this year
In terms of recent breakthroughs, sodium-ion battery technology has made significant progress. In 2024, sodium-ion batteries will achieve major breakthroughs in key performance indicators such as energy density, cycle life, and safety, and officially enter the stage of commercial application. A number of companies have achieved results in the field of sodium-ion batteries, such as Hithium launched the world's first sodium-ion battery for power energy storage, N162Ah, which is expected to achieve GWh-level mass production in the fourth quarter of 2025; BYD Energy Storage released a sodium-ion battery energy storage system product using long-blade battery cells, which is expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2025; CATL's second-generation sodium-ion battery has been developed and can discharge normally in a cold environment of minus 40 degrees Celsius, and is expected to be launched to the market in 2025. The Fuyang production line of Hina Battery sodium-ion battery plans to expand to the order of 10 - 20GWh in 2025. In addition, (semi-)solid-state batteries for energy storage are also accelerating towards practical applications. In 2024, a number of solid-state and semi-solid-state battery energy storage projects in China have been put into operation, started and connected to the grid, such as the completion of the 466kWh solid-state battery energy storage project in Xike 1237 Industrial Park, Xiuzhou District, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang, the 4.5MW energy storage project of GF Casting Solutions (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. uses Qingtao Energy's 280Ah semi-solid lithium iron phosphate battery, and the first 100KW/124KW solid-state battery energy storage power station in North China Oilfield is connected to the grid and put into operation. It is expected that in 2025, with the growth of new global energy storage capacity, the application of solid-state batteries in the field of energy storage will be further expanded. Great Power Energy's 1GWh semi-solid-state battery project is scheduled to start in May 2025, Tailan Energy's Chongqing Phase II 2GWh solid-state battery project is scheduled to be put into operation in 2025, and Qingtao Energy's 10GWh solid-state battery project in Taizhou is expected to be fully operational in 2025.
At present, energy storage cell technology is in a golden period of rapid development, the market share of large-capacity cells is gradually expanding, the prospect is bright, and the breakthrough of various new cell technologies has also injected strong impetus into the sustainable development of the energy storage industry.
