A Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) secures electrical energy from renewable and non-renewable sources and collects and saves it in rechargeable batteries for use at a later date. When energy is needed, it is released from the BESS to power demand to lessen any disparity between energy demand and energy generation.
BESS types include those that use lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries, high-temperature batteries and zinc batteries.
China is committed to steadily developing a renewable-energy-based power system to reinforce the integration of demand- and supply-side management. An augmented focus on energy storage development will substantially lower the curtailment rate of renewable energy and add tractability to peak shaving, contributing to coal use reduction in China.
In terms of BESS infrastructure and its development timeline, China’s BESS market really saw take off only recently, in 2022, when according to the National Energy Administration (China) and China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA) data, new energy storage capacity reached 13.1GW, more than double the amount reached in 2021.
Ahead and heading into a new era for new energy, it is expected that China’s energy storage capacity and its BESS capacity in particular will grow at a CAGR rate of 44% between 2023 and 2027.
Finally, BESS development financing globally thus far has stemmed from various sources: funds, corporate funds, institutional investors, or bank financing. In China, some of these funding means have also been utilized. Looking to the future, two possible funding means which could be brought into play/further brought into play could be green financing and real estate investment trusts (REITs).