Recently, two pieces of news in the energy storage bidding market have attracted widespread attention in the industry.
One is that China National Electric Equipment Group has set a maximum price of 32 million yuan and a warranty period of 20 years in the procurement project of the AC side equipment of the all-vanadium liquid flow 100MW/400MWh energy storage system .
The other is that China National Nuclear Corporation issued a tender announcement for the procurement of lithium iron phosphate electrochemical energy storage system for the EPC general contracting of the Jiayuguan 500MW/1000MWh independent energy storage project, with a total procurement scale of 475MW/1000MWh of a full set of lithium iron phosphate energy storage equipment and a specified range of manufacturers.
Although the above two bidding projects are small in scale, the new trend in the energy storage bidding market they convey is worthy of attention.
First , although all-vanadium liquid flow battery energy storage is not the mainstream technical route for new energy storage at present, since this year, the frequency of bidding by owners for technical routes other than lithium battery energy storage has increased, and the new energy storage market has shown a "hundred flowers blooming" trend.
Secondly , the maximum price limit does not only appear in the bidding and procurement of all-vanadium liquid flow energy storage system equipment. In recent bidding, lithium battery energy storage, which accounts for more than 95% of the market share of new energy storage, has also seen many "price limit" phenomena.
Third , not only is the maximum bid of participating bidders limited, but the owner also specifies the scope of the supplier list. This will, to a certain extent, accelerate the differentiation and iteration of companies in the energy storage industry chain, and the Matthew effect of "the strong will always be strong" will be more prominent.
01
Designated 15 suppliers
It is reported that in the bidding for the 500MW/1000MWh independent energy storage project of Jiayuguan of CNNC, the energy storage system adopts the solution of lithium iron phosphate battery system + supercapacitor system. Among them, the total DC capacity of the energy storage is 475MW/1000MWh , and the scope of supply is the supply of a full set of equipment required for the energy storage system, including lithium iron phosphate batteries, PCS, BMS, DC return equipment, step-up transformer, and supporting facilities in the cabin.
The energy storage battery unit battery compartment is required to use a wound battery cell with a single compartment of 20 feet and a capacity of 5MWh.
It is worth mentioning that in this bidding project, the owner has specified the scope of lithium iron phosphate energy storage system manufacturers. The 15 designated companies are Chuaneng New Energy, CRRC Zhuzhou Institute, Sungrow Power Supply, Ronghe Yuanchu, Envision Energy, Kehua Digital Energy, Hubei Electric Power Equipment, Zhiguang Energy Storage, Haibosichuang, Jiangsu Ruioubao Energy, Xinyuan Intelligent Storage, Zhongtian Energy Storage, Trina Energy Storage, EVE Energy, Yunda Energy and equivalent manufacturers.
Battery China noted that the above 15 companies were the winners of the "2024 4GWh lithium iron phosphate energy storage system centralized procurement" project of China National Nuclear Corporation Xinhua Hydropower Co., Ltd. in April this year. Battery China has previously reported on this bidding project ("EVE/Envision/Chuneng and others won the bid for system centralized procurement, and many battery manufacturers "increased" energy storage").
In fact, it is not common to specify the scope of manufacturers in the energy storage bidding market , but this time CNNC has made relevant restrictions on suppliers, which seems to mean that as a large storage bidding owner, it prefers to use battery suppliers that it has "cooperated" with before. "Repurchase" can reduce the complex work of "layer-by-layer screening" of bidders in the bidding process to a certain extent, and improve efficiency. At the same time, these companies are all leading energy storage system integration manufacturers, and their strength has been verified by the market and is more trustworthy. From this point of view, the "national team" bidding owners are paying more attention to the leading high-quality battery suppliers.
Coincidentally, in June in CNPC’s “2024 New Access for First-tier Material Suppliers (61 Major Categories of Energy Storage Special Materials)” project, eight companies, including CATL, BYD, EVE Power, Ruipu Lanjun, Haichen Energy Storage, Guoxuan High-tech, Envision Power, and Sinovation, became its first-tier material suppliers for battery cells, and all of them are leading energy storage battery companies.
It is worth mentioning that four battery companies, namely CATL, BYD, Envision Energy and EVE Power, have been shortlisted as energy storage system integrators for the CNPC bidding project.
While the leading energy storage battery companies have repeatedly reaped "achievements", new companies have also entered the energy storage field. Data shows that in the first seven months of this year, nearly 50,000 new energy storage-related companies have been registered. However, many industry insiders believe that 2024 will be a watershed year for the energy storage battery market to accelerate the survival of the fittest and reshape the market structure. At present, the speed at which the energy storage market is concentrated on leading companies is accelerating.
02
"Maximum price" appears frequently, 4h energy storage system has dropped to 0.435 yuan/Wh
The above-mentioned Chinese electrical equipment group is not an isolated case of giving a maximum price in centralized procurement. According to Battery China's observation, since the beginning of this year, "maximum price" requirements have appeared in many bidding projects including Sinopec Jichai Power and China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage.
First, in May this year, PetroChina Jichai Power set the maximum price limit for "energy storage battery system" and "314Ah battery cell" at 0.478 yuan/Wh and 0.33 yuan/Wh respectively in the tender for the electrical sub-components of the 5MWh liquid-cooled energy storage system. "One stone stirs up a thousand waves", and many industry insiders exclaimed "the lowest price in history is here" at that time, because its price limit was infinitely close to or even lower than the cost price.
It is reported that a total of 7 companies participated in the bidding, namely Haichen Energy Storage, Chuneng New Energy, Penghui Energy, Ruipu Lanjun, Trina Energy Storage, Sino-Innovation Aviation and Ganfeng Lithium Battery, all of which are leading battery companies. However, Ganfeng Lithium Battery and Sino-Innovation Aviation were still "kicked out" because they did not meet the bidding requirements. In the end, Haichen Energy Storage and Chuneng New Energy were the first and second winning candidates respectively.
In July, China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage and PetroChina Jichai Power respectively released the "2024 Battery Energy Storage Power Station (Yunnan) Grid-Building Battery Energy Storage System Framework Procurement Project" and the 5MWh liquid-cooled energy storage system electrical components bidding announcement for the supporting 130MW/260MWh energy storage project. Among them, China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage requires a maximum price limit of 266.4 million yuan, which is equivalent to a bid price limit of no more than 0.74 yuan/Wh ; PetroChina Jichai Power's budget is 130 million yuan (tax included), equivalent to a unit price of about 0.5 yuan/Wh.
According to the bid opening results, a total of 19 companies participated in the bidding for the Southern Grid energy storage project. Among them, Tianyi Energy, Xuji Electric, CATL, BYD, China Storage Technology, and Wasion Energy quoted prices ranging from 0.590 yuan to 0.715 yuan/Wh, with an average price of 0.654 yuan/Wh.
In the bidding project of Sinopec Jichai Power, there are two candidates for winning the bid. Yiwei Power and Guoxuan High-tech ranked first and second with unit prices of 0.446 yuan/Wh and 0.428 yuan/Wh respectively.
In terms of the price of energy storage systems, the current holder of the lowest winning bid for a 4h energy storage system is CRRC Zhuzhou Institute, which won the bid for the green power supply project of the Baotou Aluminum Industrial Park at the end of July this year at a unit price of 0.435 yuan/Wh. Since the beginning of this year, the price of energy storage systems has successively fallen below 0.6 yuan/Wh, 0.5 yuan/Wh, and even lower. An industry insider said, "Prices can only stabilize if enough companies exit the industry or demand growth can match the scale of production capacity."
On the one hand, battery prices continue to fall, and on the other hand, owners' requirements continue to rise. The competition among energy storage industry chain companies has begun to shift from competition in production capacity and price to competition in multiple dimensions of comprehensive strength, such as technology, product innovation, efficiency, channels, services, and brand influence. Recently, the advantages of leading battery companies have gradually become apparent, and the trend of "the strong will always be strong" has intensified, leaving little opportunity for "latecomers" in energy storage.