[SMM Analysis] Li Donglin, NPC Deputy and Chairman of Times Electric: Accelerate Improving Standards System and Regulatory Mechanisms for New Energy Storage Industry

SMM News March 7:

During the Two Sessions, Li Donglin, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress and chairman of Times Electric, submitted four proposals to the conference, including the "Proposal on Accelerating the Improvement of Standards System and Regulatory Mechanisms for the New Energy Storage Industry". Regarding some issues exposed in the rapid development of the new energy storage industry, Li Donglin proposed that regulatory authorities such as the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration should take the lead in further optimizing the standards system for new energy storage and accelerating the improvement of market regulatory mechanisms.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Grid Peak Shaving Energy Storage and Intelligent Dispatching Capabilities", which repeatedly mentioned new energy storage, putting the role of energy storage on par with grid peak shaving and intelligent dispatching, reflecting a comprehensive understanding and emphasis on the role of energy storage systems. This also indicates that energy storage will play a more core role in promoting the transformation and development of the power system.

"In terms of the development speed and construction scale of new energy storage, practice is faster than the system. The relevant norms and regulatory systems that have been issued cannot keep up," said Li Donglin. In his view, the current standards system for new energy storage needs to be strengthened in terms of unity and coordination. There is a lack of unified national planning and requirements, which may lead to conflicts among relevant parties during the implementation of standards. At the same time, due to differences in the starting time, policy intensity, and grid requirements for new energy storage in different regions, the inconsistencies in capacity configuration, certification requirements, and technical development have become increasingly prominent. For example, according to local grid requirements in Jiangsu, about 20% overcapacity is needed, while in the northwest region, rated capacity configuration is still adopted without the need for overcapacity; the spot check requirements and grid-connection test items are not unified in different regions. In terms of safety, the standards and regulations that have been issued mostly focus on the battery itself and the fire protection norms for power plants, and the system-level safety and reliability testing and verification standards for energy storage power plants before grid connection are not yet complete. In addition, by the end of 2023, the price of new energy storage systems has halved compared to the beginning of the year, and a large number of cross-border companies have entered the market, with uneven product technology and quality, which may lead to a lack of safety assurance for new energy storage power plants. In terms of energy storage utilization rate, the current mechanism for new energy storage to participate in the power market in China is not yet perfect. In the first half of 2023, the average daily equivalent charge and discharge cycle of China's electrochemical energy storage power plants was only 0.58 times, making it difficult to verify product quality and risking the prevalence of low-quality energy storage power plants.

In response to the above situation, Li Donglin suggested that the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and other regulatory authorities should take the lead, in conjunction with other relevant departments, to further optimize the standards system for new energy storage and accelerate the improvement of market regulatory mechanisms. Firstly, improve the industry standards system. On one hand, accelerate the improvement of the top-level standards system, speed up the construction of national standards, layout the development strategies for standards at all levels, and promote the coordinated development of national standards, industry standards, and local standards. On the other hand, accelerate the formulation and revision of key standards such as energy storage power plant construction, fire acceptance, grid connection acceptance, etc., speed up the formulation of standards for grid-scale energy storage technology, and improve the safety management system for user-side energy storage; improve the testing and evaluation standards system, and build a high-standard energy storage system demonstration platform. Secondly, improve the industry regulatory mechanism. On one hand, the National Energy Administration should take the lead in strengthening the supervision of the power market, further promote the establishment of a power market operation evaluation system, and increase the monitoring and supervision of power market operations. On the other hand, the provincial energy construction offices should strengthen the promotion of standardized management of new energy storage projects, such as project construction, grid connection acceptance, and operation, real-time monitoring of project operations, and real-time disclosure of project supervision data.

In addition, led by the National Energy Administration, implement the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Stability of Power Systems under New Situations", actively promote the scientific construction of local energy storage projects, strengthen the guiding and demonstration role, and promote pilot demonstrations of new technologies in multiple scenarios.