European Energy Storage Industry Support Policy Overview

Many countries in Europe have recognized the importance of energy storage. They have put energy storage technology research and development in focus in the legislation and have corresponding industrial policies to support it.

The European Union's European Strategic Energy Planning Plan (SET-Plan) in 2007 clearly stated that in order to achieve the 2050 strategic goals, it is necessary to break through low-cost and high-efficiency energy storage technologies within the next 10 years. To this end, the European Commission also encouraged European industry and research teams to set up a working group on energy storage in Europe. At the end of November 2009, 36 major European energy-related institutions in 11 countries convened a European energy storage symposium, and finally to the European Union. The committee submitted a number of development proposals in the area of ​​energy storage R&D and industrial policy. The proposal states: First, assess various energy storage technologies and their prospects based on performance, cost, and maturity to identify potential R&D and demonstration needs. To establish a development plan for the short, medium and long term European energy storage solutions industry. Second, the projects to be included in the upcoming European framework plan include: demonstration projects for testing and evaluation of new energy storage solutions and their components; research and demonstration projects for evaluating new business models using energy storage technologies; assessment of Europe Research and demonstration projects for flexible demand and evaluation in power systems; development of next-generation energy storage technologies including long-term research plans for components and materials. Third, we will promote the establishment of an independent industry-led, all-European energy storage information platform.

The German government supports the participation of national participants in the application and implementation of SET-Plan, mainly including research on power grids, renewable energy, energy storage systems, energy efficiency, and CCS. In addition, Germany has implemented the Sixth Energy Research Program since 2011. Two of the five priority themes are related to energy storage: energy storage methods and grid technology, and renewable energy integration.

In addition, the Federal Government of Germany gave a total budget of 1.4 billion euros in the "National Technology Innovation Plan" passed in 2006 to support the development and commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. At present, Germany has completed at least 20 fuel cell and other forms of energy storage demonstration projects (including some hydrogen storage energy storage).

In the UK Science Fund and national projects, most of the supporting technologies related to the power grid are energy storage technologies. At the same time, the bidding model and the pricing mechanism for pumped-storage generating units have been specifically established in the UK electricity market. It is clear that the revenue of pumped-storage-storage generating stations consists of two parts (similar to the two-part price of electricity in China): fixed income and bidding in annual transactions. Electricity sales revenue in transactions. In addition, the UK also implements peak and valley electricity prices and seasonal electricity prices. The average peak-to-valley electricity price differs by more than four times. In some areas, the peak-valley difference in winter can reach more than 10 times.

As of 2009, the United Kingdom has four pumped-storage power stations with a total installed capacity of 2828 MW, which accounts for less than 4% of the installed capacity of the power grid. The scale of construction and proposed construction is 900 MW, and the estimated annual power generation is 1,000 GWh.

France has implemented two-part tariffs, peak-to-valley prices, and seasonal prices since 1957, and the peak-to-valley difference has continued to increase. In addition, it has also adopted a blackout tariff and a peak-day electricity transfer system.

Peak and valley electricity prices and seasonal electricity prices have been widely implemented in many European countries. Such as Italy, Norway and other countries. The implementation of financial subsidies and support of the peak-to-valley electricity price system will help increase the benefits of existing energy storage systems, and at the same time promote the demonstration and commercialization of energy storage technologies. For example, in the ten years of the 1980s and 1990s, the installed capacity of pumped-storage systems in Italy more than doubled.

In addition to economic incentives, strict technical standards and standardized management are also important driving forces for the development of energy storage industries. For example, Spain and other countries require that all wind power must provide wind power output curve and short-term power generation forecast curve to the power grid before the Internet access. The error cannot exceed a certain percentage, otherwise it will be punished. This will also force power generators to actively use forecasting technology and energy storage technology, so as to achieve a sound development of new energy power generation and power grid construction.