China Battery Industry Association: The most critical nickel-metal hydride battery for energy storage safety is expected to stand out

Energy storage safety has aroused industry attention.
The China Battery Industry Association released "The Most Critical Ni-MH Battery for Energy Storage Safety Is Expected to Stand Out" on the official public account, which triggered industry thinking
.

With the rapid development of new energy, the energy storage market is heating up rapidly, but the safety alarm of electrochemical energy storage is constantly ringing
.

On July 30, one of the world's largest energy storage projects, Australia's "Victoria Big Battery" energy storage power station, experienced a deflagration accident.
The Tesla Megapack lithium battery pack weighing 13 tons was completely ignited
.

Just a few months ago, an energy storage project in Beijing exploded suddenly, resulting in the death of two firefighters

According to industry insiders, the deflagration of Tesla's lithium battery energy storage unit will affect or change the development of energy storage business.
If it is finally found that the battery problem caused the fire, it is likely to prompt energy storage manufacturers to speed up the choice of other technological development routes.
, And affect the large-scale application of different battery technologies in the energy storage business
.

On July 23, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage" (referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"), which is also China's latest authoritative energy storage policy
.

The "Guiding Opinions" propose that by 2025, the transformation of new energy storage from the initial stage of commercialization to large-scale development will be realized, with an installed capacity of more than 30 million kilowatts (30GW); by 2030, the full market-oriented development of new energy storage will be achieved

The energy storage industry is ushering in a period of rapid development, and the importance of energy storage safety is also increasing day by day
.

Especially after experiencing several serious fires and even explosions, the safety level standards of energy storage batteries will be mandatory to increase, thereby increasing its overall cost

The "Guiding Opinions" have also repeatedly emphasized energy storage safety, including the basic principles of establishing safety technical standards and management systems, strengthening fire safety management, and strictly observing the bottom line of safety; achieving high safety, low cost, high reliability, and long life.
considerable progress; research and other electrochemical energy storage technology strengthening security
.

Under the "Lithium Shortage", it is more necessary to compete with different technical routes

In addition to safety issues, the "lithium shortage" is also stirring market nerves
.

According to UBS Group forecasts, electrochemical energy storage will gradually replace pumped storage and become the mainstream technology route for energy storage

Carbon neutral and strong drive energy storage innovation, Ni-MH energy storage is very "appetite"

In the context of carbon neutrality, the transformation of the energy structure has entered an accelerated stage, and a high proportion of renewable energy will inevitably trigger a long-term and continuous demand for energy storage in the power system
.

Energy storage, as a key means to stabilize the fluctuation of clean energy power generation and improve the system's absorption capacity, will be supported by the new energy development system under the promotion of policies and be applied on a large scale

On August 10, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Notice on Encouraging Renewable Energy Power Generation Companies to Build or Purchase Peak-shaving Capacity to Increase the Scale of Grid Connection", encouraging power generation companies to build or purchase peak-shaving energy storage capacity by themselves.
Ways to increase the scale of renewable energy power generation installed capacity and grid connection
.

This is another good news for the energy storage market after the "Guiding Opinions"

Due to different application scenarios and application performance, energy storage batteries are quite different from power batteries and consumer batteries
.

Relatively speaking, energy storage batteries have relatively low energy density requirements, but they are more concerned about safety and cycle life, and are more sensitive to costs and prices

On the battery technology route, in addition to lithium batteries, CATL has introduced sodium-ion batteries with a single cell energy density of up to 160Wh/kg; charging at room temperature for 15 minutes, the power can reach more than 80%; in a low temperature environment of -20°C Among them, it also has a discharge retention rate of more than 90%, and the market has responded enthusiastically
.

Ni-MH batteries have long been proven to be a very valuable energy storage technology, leading in terms of safety, and lower in energy density than lithium batteries and sodium batteries
.

However, as mentioned earlier, because the energy storage application scenarios are relatively fixed, and there are no special requirements for weight and volume, battery energy density is not a priority consideration for energy storage systems

According to the data, the positive active material of nickel-hydrogen battery is mainly made of spherical nickel, while the negative active material is supported by hydrogen storage alloy.
It is a relatively stable material, and the water-based electrolyte has good flame retardant properties
.
The energy density of the battery cell can reach up to 140wh/kg; the cycle life can reach 3000 times, and the cycle can reach more than 10000 times under shallow charge and shallow discharge; maintain high rate charge and discharge under the environment of -40°C to 60°C
.
Ni-MH batteries have been widely used in mass production in hybrid vehicles, rail transit, aerospace and other scenarios
.
"TOP New Energy" pointed out, "At present, the global air transportation and underground operations require the use of nickel-metal hydride batteries, because nickel-metal hydride batteries are relatively stable and will not spontaneously ignite and explode.
Toyota has more than 18 million new energy vehicles worldwide, and none of them ignites spontaneously.
Explosion"
.
The high safety of NiMH batteries has been fully verified
.

It is worth noting that Toyota's "bipolar nickel-hydrogen battery" has been commercialized in Japan's new generation of AQUA hybrid vehicles
.
Compared with the previous generation of nickel-metal hydride batteries, the output of each cell in the bipolar nickel-metal hydride battery has been increased by 1.
5 times.
The number of cells contained in the same space is more than 1.
4 times, and the total output has been increased by about twice
.
The emergence of "bipolar nickel-hydrogen battery" indicates that the performance of nickel-hydrogen battery has room for substantial improvement and has a broad prospect in the energy storage market
.

It is understood that Corun is the leading company in the domestic nickel-hydrogen battery
.
The company’s National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Energy Storage Materials is the only national engineering center in the field of advanced energy storage technology and key energy storage materials in China.
The "R&D and industrialization" project has won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award
.
At present, the company's nickel foam (battery base material) and electrode plates (key battery components) have been supplied to customers in the energy storage market, and are used in fields such as telecommunication base station reserve power supplies and wind power storage batteries
.
The fourth-generation Ni-MH battery developed by Corun based on advanced battery technology will also be available soon.
It has the characteristics of "high safety, wide temperature range, and ultra-long life".
It is especially suitable for large-scale energy storage markets and can achieve high power above 15C.
Use, 95% DOD charge and discharge, life over 10,000 times
.
The long service life of the battery also means that the energy density and cost during its full life cycle will no longer be a problem
.

With the increasing emphasis on battery safety in the energy storage market, nickel-metal hydride batteries are expected to stand out in the competition of energy storage technology routes by virtue of their excellent "adaptability"
.