Deep in the Nur Sumu grassland in Inner Mongolia, "bad hills" are planted with "sun flowers". In the Suneng Zhengyan 400MW Scenic New Energy Project Base, several fans about 40 floors high rose from the ground, delivering more than 20 billion kilowatt-hours of green electricity annually.

"We use decentralized control battery energy storage technology, with a total installed capacity of 1.1 million kilowatts." The manager of the wind power base introduced that after the project is completed, the base can transport 2.2 billion kilowatt-hours of green electricity to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region every year, effectively reducing the standard coal consumption by 800,000 tons, and reducing emissions such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide by more than 4.1 million tons.

In recent years, my country's new energy has developed rapidly. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that as of the end of December 2024, my country's installed capacity of solar power generation was about 890 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 45.2%; wind power installed capacity was about 520 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 18.0%. The installed capacity of new energy power generation is about 1.41 billion kilowatts, accounting for more than 40% of the total installed capacity of the country, exceeding the installed capacity of coal-fired power.

Major wind power and photovoltaic projects are developing rapidly. In Zhangpu County, Fujian Province, the first offshore wind farm with a large single-unit capacity is all connected to the grid to generate power, with a total installed capacity of 400 megawatts; in Maqin County, Qinghai Province, the first unit of the hydropower project with the highest altitude and largest installed capacity under construction in the Yellow River Basin is officially connected to the grid to generate power. The unit can generate 155 kW of electricity per second, equivalent to the half-month electricity consumption of a family of three; in Dongying City, Shandong Province, the first batch of power generation units of the first million-kilowatt offshore photovoltaic project is connected to the grid, and it is expected to save about 500,000 tons of standard coal every year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1.3 million tons...

Guo Haitao, director of the Institute of Energy Economics and Finance of China University of Petroleum (Beijing), said in an interview with People's Daily that low-carbonization and greening are the direction of the transformation of the energy structure, and the status of new energy in the energy structure will continue to improve. However, it should be noted that with the rapid development of new energy sources such as wind energy and solar energy, the impact of intermittent, volatility and randomness on power grid safety is becoming increasingly prominent.

Therefore, new energy must not only be released, but also stored and used well.

"Developing new energy storage is an important way to deal with the instability of new energy, and can effectively improve the regulation capacity, comprehensive efficiency and safety guarantee capabilities of the energy and power system." Guo Haitao introduced that new energy storage refers to energy storage with the main form of output power in addition to pumped storage. The new energy storage has the characteristics of flexible site selection, short construction period, fast and flexible response, and diverse functional characteristics. It can be deeply integrated with the power system source, grid, and load, and effectively incorporate renewable energy with instability characteristics such as wind energy and solar energy into the new energy system.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2024, my country's new energy storage maintained a rapid development trend, with an installed capacity exceeding 70 million kilowatts. The cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage projects that have been completed and put into operation in the country reached 73.76 million kilowatts, an increase of more than 130% from the end of 2023. The average energy storage time is 2.3 hours, an increase of about 0.2 hours from the end of 2023.

The level of new energy storage scheduling and application continues to improve, and technological innovation continues to make breakthroughs. Between Guangzhou and Foshan, 88 sets of lithium iron phosphate energy storage systems stand on the banks of the Beijiang River. The two-story main control building stands in the center. Two 110 kV lines pass through the tower and connect to the power supply area... A "urban power bank" rose from the ground.

"This new energy storage power station has an installed capacity of 300 megawatts, and it is expected to provide 430 million kWh of clean electricity to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area every year, which can meet the electricity needs of 200,000 residents in the Greater Bay Area and achieve 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions." The staff of the energy storage power station introduced that during the period of low local power demand, the power station can fully utilize clean energy such as wind energy and solar energy to charge; during peak electricity consumption, it can also transport the stored "green electricity" to thousands of households, achieving a "millisecond" response speed.

However, in the development of new energy such as wind power and optoelectronics, problems such as consumption, technology, and going overseas still exist. How to further crack? "First, we can further develop hydrogen energy and energy storage technologies to achieve off-grid applications and non-electric applications, and continuously improve the power consumption capacity. Secondly, we need to simultaneously release domestic market demand, reduce dependence on the international market, and alleviate domestic competitive pressure. Finally, we must reasonably plan the matching of power installation and demand, and through accurate planning and flexible power scheduling mechanisms, we can maximize the utilization efficiency of wind and photoelectric power and promote the long-term and healthy development of the industry." Liu Qiang, director of the Energy Security and New Energy Research Office of the Institute of Quantitative Economics and Technology Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested.