The energy storage market is overwhelming. How to develop the production of connectors?

In modern society, energy consumption is increasing day by day, and the extensive use of fossil fuels has an irreversible adverse impact on the environment and global climate. The data show that if calculated according to the existing mining technology and the current rate of consumption of fossil fuels, the useful life of fossil fuels will not exceed 120 years at most, and the goal of human sustainable development will face a serious threat. Therefore, the research and development of new and renewable energy and the search for advanced methods to improve energy utilization have become the primary issue of global common concern, and the energy storage industry has gradually entered the public's vision.

Since the goal of "carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutralization in 2060" was put forward, China has issued a number of policies one after another. According to the incomplete statistics of the information center of China energy storage network, only in August this year, the domestic administrative and regulatory institutions issued a total of 22 energy storage related policies. It can be seen that the country's determination to vigorously develop the energy storage industry, coupled with the continuous establishment of the business model of energy storage, the installed capacity of energy storage has increased explosively, and the energy storage market is irresistible. As an indispensable part in the energy storage industry, the market capacity and product demand of the connector also increase with the development of the energy storage industry. How can the energy storage connector develop healthily under this trend? How should domestic connector enterprises take root in the energy storage industry chain?

The energy storage industry is developing rapidly and the market is gradually expanding

Electricity market: new energy power generation is unstoppable, and the energy storage industry has been developed

With economic development and social progress, China's demand for electricity continues to increase. On September 14, the National Energy Administration released the data of electricity consumption of the whole society in August. From January to August, the total electricity consumption of the whole society was 5470.4 billion kwh, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%. By industry, the electricity consumption of the primary industry was 66 billion kwh, a year-on-year increase of 19.3%; The electricity consumption of the secondary industry was 3652.9 billion kwh, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%; The electricity consumption of the tertiary industry was 953.3 billion kwh, a year-on-year increase of 21.9%; The domestic electricity consumption of urban and rural residents was 798.2 billion kwh, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%.

Monthly electricity consumption and growth rate of the whole society in 2020 and 2021

With the goal of "carbon peaking and carbon neutralization", new energy power generation has gradually become an important force in power supply, and the wind power photovoltaic industry has developed rapidly. It is reported that in the first quarter of this year, the output of photovoltaic modules in China exceeded 30GW, a year-on-year increase of 40%; The domestic installed capacity is 5.3gw, with a year-on-year increase of 34%, and will continue to maintain a rapid growth momentum, that is, in this momentum, the energy storage market has ushered in explosive growth.

New energy power generation alleviates the pressure of fossil energy consumption in China to a certain extent, but there are problems of randomness and volatility. Energy storage technology can help new energy power generation output smoothly and effectively adjust the changes of grid voltage, frequency and phase caused by new energy power generation, so that large-scale wind power and photovoltaic power generation can be easily and reliably incorporated into the conventional power grid.

According to statistics, by the end of 2020, the cumulative installed capacity of domestic new energy storage is 3.28gw, which is 10 times less than the installed capacity of 30GW in 2025 proposed by the national energy administration and the national development and Reform Commission. In the first half of 2021, the installed capacity of new energy storage in China has exceeded 10GW, a year-on-year increase of 6 times, and the distance from 30GW is less than 3 times.

Energy storage connector: opportunities and challenges coexist

It has been more than ten years since the development of energy storage. Although energy storage is not an emerging technology, the industrial development is still in its infancy. In the early stage, the energy storage industry was not supported by the state's explicit policies and was completely subject to the market. Compared with the photovoltaic industry, the development speed of the energy storage industry was slow, the demand for connectors was small, the business model was uncertain, and the cost remained high. Therefore, there were few domestic connector enterprises involved in the energy storage field, and foreign connector enterprises occupied the dominant position.

Driven by national policies, the energy storage market has gradually expanded, and new energy industries such as photovoltaic, wind power and automobile have also been better developed. This year, the state announced a series of good news to stimulate the development of energy storage. New energy storage application scenarios continue to appear, and the energy storage industry shows an irresistible trend. As a key component in the energy storage system, the market capacity of energy storage connector has increased significantly, which is a major development opportunity for domestic energy storage connector enterprises.

Zhao Zhengwu, general manager of Shanghai huzheng connector Co., Ltd., said that the market capacity of energy storage connectors will be on the rise for at least the next few decades.

Zhou Zhenfang, general manager of Huizhou Lingyue Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters that the investment cost of energy storage connector is less and the technical threshold is low. Now, thanks to the support of national policies, more and more domestic connector enterprises have joined the energy storage industry chain.

However, the pressure on the cost and quality of energy storage connectors follows.

The material, quality and surface treatment of energy storage connector have fixed requirements. With the development of energy storage, the quality standard of connector will also change. It is understood that the raw materials for making energy storage connectors are mainly plastic and copper alloy. In terms of plastic, nylon and PBT are the majority, while copper alloy roughly includes red copper, vanadium copper and beryllium copper. Among them, nylon and beryllium copper are mainly imported, while PBT, red copper and vanadium copper are mainly domestic.

Zhao Zhengwu, general manager of huzheng, said: "the domestic red copper technology has been very perfect and can fully meet the requirements of red copper for energy storage connectors, including the red copper currently used on Tesla, which are made in China, but beryllium copper will still be imported."

Wang Yuelin, general manager of Jiangsu Liandong Power Co., Ltd., said that there are still some differences between domestic energy storage connectors and foreign connectors in terms of reliability and consistency. In particular, foreign brands such as Amphenol and Molex have their unique patents and technologies in the production, material selection and manufacturing process details of energy storage connectors. He believes that domestic connector enterprises should increase the research and development of energy storage connectors and strengthen the grasp of details in the process of connector manufacturing, so as to narrow the gap with foreign brands.

How to develop continuously and healthily?

● define cost reduction plan

As mentioned above, the volume of energy storage connector market is gradually increasing, and the cost problem has become a major problem for connector enterprises. In recent years, the cost of electrochemical energy storage battery has gradually decreased, so the cost control of installed capacity has become particularly important. As a key component of installed connection, the cost of energy storage connector has become the main consideration index when selecting products. How to reduce product costs and meet the future development of energy storage is a major challenge for energy storage connector enterprises.

The energy storage connector has two relatively common connection modes - fixed screw connection and quick plug connection. As an economical connector design, the fixed bolt connection cost is low, which can meet the requirements of some customers for cost performance, but the safety and convenience are relatively poor. In contrast, quick plug connection has obvious advantages in security and reliability, but the cost is also relatively high.

Zhou Zhenfang, general manager of Lingyue optoelectronics, said that the energy storage connector has simple structure and low threshold. Many connector enterprises have this technology, so the cost advantage is particularly important in the case of consistent quality. For a product, on the premise of ensuring performance and quality, the simpler the design, the lower the cost, but the higher the level. In addition, improving production efficiency is also a measure to reduce costs.

Wang Yuelin, general manager of Liandong power, said that in the face of cost pressure, on the premise of ensuring the quality of the connector, the company first improved the structure from the source of product design, and designed the plug of the energy storage connector into an assembled structure (the company has applied for an invention patent), reducing the accuracy requirements of tooling, molds and equipment in the manufacturing process.

Secondly, the connecting power also reduces the number of key dimensions of relevant parts as much as possible, reduces the difficulty of metal finishing, and realizes self-made in key parts of the connector, such as the core terminal of the connector. The connecting power adopts its own design and production method, which not only reduces the cost of raw materials, but also ensures the product quality from the source.

● ensure product quality

Wang Yuelin, general manager of Liandong power, said that high-quality energy storage connectors should mainly have the characteristics of safety, reliability and consistency.

Safety is the primary standard for the quality of key parts. No matter how the development of the industry is, it should be based on safety, otherwise the largest industry will encounter risks. Secondly, the reliability of the energy storage connector is also particularly important. The service life of the energy storage system is about 15 years. As a key component of the whole system, its service life is related to whether the whole energy storage system can ensure safe and effective operation for 15 years.

There are a large number of energy storage batteries in the energy storage device. The energy storage batteries are connected in series and parallel through the energy storage connector to form the output or storage of high voltage and large current. As a key part of transmission, thousands of energy storage connectors are used. How to ensure the consistency of thousands of energy storage connectors has also become a major consideration index for connector enterprises.

How to guarantee the quality of the energy storage connector?

Starting from the material selection, function and motor (gas) performance of the energy storage connector, the continuous power integrates the functions of positive and negative pole anti misinsertion, anti electric shock, waterproof and 360 degree rotation. Through a large number of research and practical cases, it has independently developed the core terminal of the connector, tried to reduce the attenuation degree of the terminal, and ensured the safety, reliability and consistency of the product while reducing the cost.

Wang Yuelin, its general manager, said that when selecting plastic materials, the company will have specific consideration indicators, such as color fading, shrinkage, pressure resistance and strength. Therefore, the company will conduct a large number of tests to select appropriate materials before selecting suppliers.

Generally speaking, in order to reduce the cost and ensure the quality at the same time, we need to start from the connector design and production links, constantly innovate and upgrade in technology, have our own core technology, simplify the structure, reduce the production links, control the cost from the source and ensure the quality.

summary

Since the "double carbon" goal was put forward, the whole country has been working hard for it. With the support of national policies, the energy storage market is overwhelming, and the demand for energy storage connectors is also rising. Due to the low technical threshold, the energy storage market has brought development opportunities to many connector enterprises, and more and more domestic connector enterprises have joined the energy storage industry chain. However, there are still challenges in the development process, and there are more and more demands. How to select materials, how to control costs and how to ensure quality are the problems that connector enterprises need to consider. On the premise of meeting technical requirements, cost advantage will become a major standard to measure connector enterprises.