On September 20, Xinwanda announced that its subsidiary Xinwanda Auto Battery intends to sign the Project Investment Agreement with Yiwu Municipal People's Government. The project investment is mainly engaged in the production and sales of lithium-ion power batteries and energy storage batteries, etc. The products cover cells, modules, PACK and battery systems for automotive power batteries and energy storage batteries. The project plans to invest a total of about 21.3 billion yuan, including fixed assets investment of about 16 billion yuan, and plans to build a production base with a total capacity of about 50GWh for power batteries and energy storage batteries.

Wang Wei, chairman of Xinwanda, told Jiwei: "The layout we are doing now is planned according to the customer's order or fixed point, basically there is very little spare capacity, part of the production base will leave a mobile amount for the customer to be fast on the project demand."

From the layout of Yiwu project, in addition to power batteries, Xinwanda is also actively expanding production in energy storage battery projects. This year, there is a strong demand for energy storage batteries at home and abroad.

Regarding the performance of the energy storage market this year, Wang Wei also pointed out, "Our orders for energy storage (are sufficient), and now we are in a state of oversupply. Whether it is an existing customer or a potential customer, whether it is the current park or the planned production base, the production capacity is now planned to have the corresponding order scheduling plan."

In the layout of energy storage projects on this matter, a number of domestic battery factories will not fall behind. A few days ago, Fu Energy Technology announced that it intends to invest in the construction of "Fu Energy Technology 24GWh lithium iron phosphate project" in the Qilin area of the Anning Industrial Park, the product is mainly used in the field of energy storage.

In the recent performance briefing, Fu Energy Technology revealed that energy storage has continued to receive orders, plant construction planning continues to advance; laboratory is also promoting the upgrade of energy storage products. The company's energy storage products with independent research and development of lithium iron phosphate square battery, energy storage cooperation projects tend to be large storage.

Battery manufacturers continue to grow the second curve

At present, the global "double carbon" goal has basically reached a consensus, energy storage industry will usher in a broad space for development. VN Technology points out that the power battery manufacturers also actively grasp the industry development trend, the product experience and technology accumulated in the field of automotive power batteries, to the energy storage market.

Energy storage market is very potential, the battery industry chain are trying to enter this field. Some industry sources pointed out that "on the one hand, energy storage batteries and power batteries are basically the same in terms of process and products, and power battery companies have a head start in terms of talent, technology, production lines, etc.. On the other hand, the competitive pattern of power battery manufacturers has basically taken shape, and these manufacturers are also actively seeking development possibilities in other fields. The development stage in which the global energy storage market is at and the future market scale of hundreds of billions are enough to attract these companies to layout."

According to the battery industry sources, "energy storage is the second growth curve of the company's development, and is one of our key layout areas. In the field of energy storage we already have a customer base, the 14th Five-Year Plan for wind power, photovoltaic power generation and other energy generation are the demand for energy storage are increasing, and the competitors in the field of energy storage are less compared to the field of power batteries. Energy storage cells will start to release next year, and is expected to have at least a few GWh (GWh) of order demand."

In entering the energy storage market, Ningde Time is "up early". In terms of market performance, this year's semi-annual report shows that Ningde Times' energy storage battery segment revenue in the first half of the year was 12.736 billion yuan, an increase of 171.41% year-on-year, and battery sales are expected to be 15 GWh, of which Q2 sales were 10 GWh. In terms of global layout, Ningde Times has laid out battery factories in the major new energy towns in Europe. It is foreseeable that in the European energy crisis, Ningde Times is expected to take the lead in meeting the European energy storage demand.

In addition, Ningde Times has taken the lead in laying out sodium ion battery in terms of technology route. Sodium ion battery has obvious advantages in low temperature and fast charging, and has certain advantages in the field of energy storage compared with lithium. Moreover, against the background of the record high price of lithium cathode materials, the cost advantage of sodium ion battery is highlighted. Ningde Times recently said on the investor platform that "sodium ion batteries will be industrialized in 2023", releasing the signal of industrialization of sodium ion battery technology on the ground.

However, in the industrialization of sodium ion battery layout, battery manufacturers have divergent. Wang Wei pointed out that "sodium ion battery technology we already have, but this can not be developed into the mainstream or the future direction of technology is not easy to say. If the future of lithium materials (prices) down to a certain extent, then the project can not be done. Sodium ion battery energy density ratio, life expectancy and other aspects still have some shortcomings. But if lithium materials remain at a high level for a long time, the layout of sodium ion batteries is an opportunity. We are now in the state of keeping side by side, when the time is right, we can quickly layout, but for now, we do not intend to industrialize."

At the moment when the industrialization of sodium ion battery is about to be landed, the market demand for energy storage battery still continues to be strong. In terms of market performance, the energy storage market continues to perform strongly. As of August, the projects under construction for energy storage have reached 18.1 GWh, and these projects are expected to be completed and connected to the grid by the end of the year, so we will see improvements on the data side of large energy storage later.

From an industry perspective, the release of large scale energy storage demand in the US will contribute new incremental volumes. The new ITC subsidy policy passed some time ago provides a large subsidy for large energy storage in the U.S. The installed demand for large energy storage in the U.S. market is expected to be 16.4 and 32.7 GWh in 2022 and 2023, with a two-year compound growth rate of 100%. From this point of view, energy storage companies with a high proportion of exported U.S. business will further benefit.