"Orders have been suspended due to a shortage of batteries." At the end of the year goal sprint, an energy storage company executive expressed frustration to reporters. "This year the energy storage market is hot, and he's running projects all over the country, and now he's ahead of schedule."
According to the reporter, since the end of September, the battery has been in short supply, enterprises stop the single phenomenon is quite common, and the situation is getting worse. Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that the national output of energy storage batteries exceeded 32 gigawatt-hours in the first half of the year. In 2021, China's new energy storage scale will increase by 2.4GW / 4.9GW. The production should be able to meet the market demand. Why are batteries in short supply? As large-scale storage moves forward, will battery supply become a bottleneck for the industry's rapid growth?
Construction of the battery shortage project has been delayed.
"The shortage of energy storage batteries is predictable. In the first half of this year, some new energy projects delayed the pace of construction due to concerns about upstream raw material costs and rising cell prices. In the fourth quarter, in order to meet the requirements of the end of the grid, we had to concentrate on purchasing batteries. Some manufacturers are really out of stock. Even if they are available, the quantity is very limited and the price is high.

Behind the "battery shortage" is the rapid growth of the market for new energy vehicles and energy storage. Last year, the shortage of batteries in the field of new energy vehicles can be seen from the collective delayed delivery of car enterprises. In addition, in order to let the car company smoothly get the battery, the management and the battery manufacturer stayed for a week. This year's policy has helped accelerate the development of energy storage, another big market for batteries, and has seen a surge in the number of energy storage projects, partly making the problem worse.
Statistics show that the country's lithium-ion battery production exceeded 280 gigawatt-hours in the first half of the year, up 150 percent year-on-year. The output of energy storage batteries exceeded 32 gigawatt-hours, accounting for 11% of the total output. Compared with the demand scale of new energy vehicles, the market plate of energy storage batteries is still small and the bargaining power is weak.
"The cost of building energy storage has increased significantly over the project plan. Even if you try to get the battery, it's going to cost you a lot. There's no accounting for that." An enterprise told reporters that some new energy projects have been extended to the first quarter of next year.
Several battery makers say demand for storage batteries is outstripping supply, with inventories running into next year. "The main drawback is the 280Ah's large battery." Compared with 50-100 Ah battery products, 280Ah battery volume energy density is higher, less parts consumption, can greatly save costs. At present, energy storage battery procurement or project bidding generally requires the capacity of a single battery to reach more than 280Ah.
It is understood that 280Ah cell was first launched by Ningde Times in 2020, and has now become the standard for the construction of energy storage projects. Battery companies include Yiwei Lithium Energy, Penghui Energy, Zhongchuang Singapore Airlines, Guoxuan High-tech, etc. There is a capacity layout, but it will take some time for capacity to be fully released.
Energy storage companies are turning overseas to increase revenues rather than profits
Even if it can continue to take orders, it will not necessarily increase net profits for energy storage companies.
In the first half of this year, the energy storage market was basically in the planning and development stage. According to incomplete statistics, the scale of new energy storage projects planned or under construction approaches 130 gigawatt hours, while the actual transportation volume is less than 1.5 gigawatt hours. Energy storage companies' margins have been squeezed by both upstream raw material prices and downstream project prices.
Leafing through the battery company's first half of the financial report, energy storage companies generally present a "revenue increase does not increase profit" situation. Their systems business is up sharply, but gross margins are down. Energy storage system integrators that don't make batteries are more passive. Ningde Times' operating revenue in the first half of the year reached 12.74 billion yuan, up 171.5% year on year, but its gross profit margin dropped 30 percentage points to 6.43%. Yiwei Lithium Energy achieved revenue of 14.926 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 127.54%, gross profit margin of 14.96%, a year-on-year decline of 10.34%.
In this case, many energy storage companies are looking to overseas markets. In an interview with investors, Sunshine Power said, "The gross profit of domestic energy storage projects is relatively low, the company will maintain the basic installation volume of domestic energy storage, mainly in overseas markets."

It is said that we can ensure that the research and development cycle of new products within 5-6 weeks, to provide customers with a complete design, reliable performance of the sample battery committed to the research and development of home energy storage, we have the core technology of the product and more than 300 intellectual property patents. The company is a set of product design, research and development, manufacturing, sales and service in one of the domestic high-tech enterprises.
"A large part of China's energy storage is exported to overseas markets. In particular, the leading manufacturers have a large overseas business volume." STDC r pointed out that in 2021, Ningde Times energy storage battery shipments overseas accounted for about 85% of the total energy storage battery shipments.
The market game is expected to ease next year.
It is understood that the price difference of electricity abroad is large, energy storage products can be sold at a good price. Since the beginning of this year, in particular, Europe has been hit by the energy crisis, the price of fossil energy has risen sharply, the market demand for energy storage products has surged, and China's battery exports have seen explosive growth. According to customs data, in the first eight months of this year, the country's cumulative exports of lithium ion energy storage batteries were 29.926 billion dollars, up 82.97% year-on-year. To cope with the shortage, it is imperative to increase the supply of energy storage batteries.
At present, the production line of most battery enterprises is basically in the state of full production and full sales. The energy storage projects now being announced are big. With safety considerations and compatibility with the new powertrain, the owners have become increasingly demanding of their projects. Forced enterprise is the project of battery production, battery enterprises put forward higher requirements. Some battery makers are also fully evaluating the viability of production lines. In general, based on the current supply capacity of battery companies, the future capacity planning of major battery manufacturers, and the market growth forecast for the next five years, battery supply will not be a weak spot in the development of energy storage industry.
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