On August 27, the sun was blazing, but the construction site of the grid-side independent battery energy storage project in Shishan Town, Nanhai District, Foshan City was in full swing. The 45th battery cabin was precisely positioned under the hoisting of a 650-ton truck crane. 180 builders stepped up construction on multiple work surfaces in the scorching heat. Flatbed trucks loaded with heavy equipment were entering the construction site in an orderly manner... The real-time progress of the project construction has reached nearly 60%, and it is accelerating towards full production.
▲The real-time construction progress of the Foshan Nanhai grid-side independent battery energy storage project has reached nearly 60%. Photo courtesy of China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company
This new energy storage project, which looks like any other new energy storage power station, is my country's first large-scale multi-technical lithium battery energy storage station and the first battery energy storage project with a capacity of over 100 megawatts in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The power station has an installed capacity of 300 megawatts/600 megawatt-hours and covers an area of 58 mu. It will be equipped with 156 lithium iron phosphate battery compartments and 88 converters and boosters, which can discharge up to 1.2 million kWh per day, meeting the electricity needs of about 200,000 households in the Greater Bay Area.
▲The rendering of the completed independent battery energy storage power station on the grid side of Foshan Nanhai. Photo provided by China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company
With the large-scale and high-proportion access to the power grid of intermittent and volatile clean energy such as wind power and photovoltaic power in my country, new energy storage has also entered the "fast lane" of large-scale development. From January to June 2023, the newly commissioned installed capacity will be about 8.63 million kilowatts/17.72 million kilowatt-hours, which is equivalent to the total installed capacity in previous years. Among them, lithium-ion batteries account for more than 90% of the installed capacity of new energy storage due to their advantages such as high energy density, long service life, safety and environmental protection, and are in an absolute dominant position.
Battery cell performance, thermal management, and structural connection are the three major technical factors that directly affect the operating performance of lithium battery energy storage. "We have organically combined different technical means in various fields of elements to form 9 differentiated lithium battery energy storage technology routes, with installed capacity ranging from 5 MW to 75 MW. This is equivalent to aggregating 9 medium-sized energy storage power stations with different technical characteristics to form a "big arena" for technical performance comparison," said Wu Bin, Foshan Nanhai Project Manager of the Technology Company of the Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company.
▲Battery cabins using different technical routes are being precisely positioned in different areas. Photo provided by China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company
It is understood that the project owner, China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company, has outstanding leading advantages in the development of new energy storage in my country. As early as 2011, the company built and put into operation my country's first megawatt-level lithium battery energy storage station-Shenzhen Baoqing Battery Energy Storage Station. In January 2023, my country's first high-voltage mobile energy storage power station developed by the company was put into operation in Baoding, Hebei; in March of the same year, the world's first submerged liquid-cooled energy storage power station was put into use in Baohu, Meizhou. "Based on the rapid and mature development of domestic lithium battery energy storage technology and our own past successful experience in developing new energy storage, we dare to use multiple technical routes at the same time in such a large-scale new energy storage power station," said Wang Zhiqiang, chairman of the technology company of China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company.
▲In March 2023, the world's first submerged liquid-cooled energy storage power station was put into use in Baohu, Meizhou. Photo courtesy of China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company
It is understood that the power station is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2023, and can deliver 430 million kWh of electricity to the load center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area each year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 300,000 tons. The evaluation of a set of indicators for the operation of the power station will provide important empirical experience and value reference for the technical application and industrial development of new energy storage in my country.
(Article from China Energy News)
