(Bloomberg) -- Energy storage is becoming so important in China that it’s drawing bigger crowds than Disneyland.
More than 170,000 visitors are expected to descend on a Shanghai convention center over three days this week to view battery assemblies ranging in size from a shoe box to a shipping container. On a daily average, that would be higher than attendance at the city’s Disney-themed amusement park last year.
A carnival atmosphere pervaded the event when it kicked off on Wednesday. Companies offered coffee and ice cream and organized interactive video games to draw people to their booths. Hostesses in sequined dresses handed out merchandise like umbrellas, notebooks and, of course, portable chargers.
The excitement shows that storage technology is moving into the spotlight as China’s accelerates its energy transition. With annual wind and solar installations booming and potentially allowing for an early peak in emissions in the world’s biggest polluter, the focus has shifted from generating clean energy to making sure it can be used.
The country has more than 1,200 gigawatts of combined wind and solar capacity after installations surged to records last year. Meanwhile, battery storage capacity is at 44 gigawatts, though it jumped 40% in the first half of the year.
“The most important factor is energy storage, which enables the rapid growth of new energy in the next step to achieve our carbon peak and carbon neutrality,” Qian Zhimin, the former chairman of utility giant State Power Investment Corp., said Tuesday at a conference preceding the exhibition. By 2030, China is expected to have 2,700 gigawatts of renewables and more than 300 gigawatts of battery storage, he said.
Depending on the technology, energy storage can come in all shapes, sizes and forms of matter — air, liquids and solids. But it’s all about batteries right now, as that’s the only technology with any chance of keeping up with the size and speed of China’s renewables roll-out. That’s in large part because battery makers have over-invested in factories in recent years, leaving the industry with massive overcapacity.
While it’s good for companies wanting to buy systems, it’s bad news for manufacturers, some of whom are being forced to sell at a loss, said Wang Siqiang, president of the China Electric Power Construction Association.
“It’s difficult to profit amid the price competition,” Wang said. “There’s a looming crisis of an industry reshuffle.”
A storage build-out can’t come any sooner. Intermittent solar and wind generation is putting a strain on the system. Grid officials are having to curtail output from more turbines and panels this year to avoid overloading power lines.
In some regions experimenting with electricity markets, prices are falling to negative levels in the middle of the day, sapping profits and halting new developments, said Zhu Gongshan, chairman of solar manufacturer GCL Technology Holdings Ltd.
“If we add energy storage at this time, this problem will be solved,” he said.
On the Wire
Hedge funds rushed to buy Chinese equities in a bet that the country’s new stimulus program can boost growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
China said it will give one-off cash handouts to people in extreme poverty before Tuesday, in a rare announcement of direct aid just a day after unveiling a sweeping program to stimulate the world’s second-largest economy.
China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean in what appeared to be its first such public test in some four decades, a move likely to rattle the US as it seeks to sway world leaders at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
This Week’s Diary
Thursday, Sept. 26:
- China Minmetals Industry Finance Forum starts in Shanghai and runs through Friday
Friday, Sept. 27:
- China weekly iron ore port stockpiles
- Shanghai exchange weekly commodities inventories, ~3:30 p.m. local time
- China industrial profits for August, 9:30am local time
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