Energy Storage Station: The Journey from Demand to Prof
Introduction: Returning to the Essence of Commercial Investment
According to CNESA statistics, China's new energy storage added 43.7GW/109.8GWh in 2024, but 45% of these projects failed to achieve the expected return on investment as projected in feasibility studies. As a technology service provider deeply rooted in the energy storage field, Soluna Energy believes that: "The essence of energy storage stations is power assets, which must be examined through a full lifecycle perspective considering the technical coupling and commercial sustainability across planning, construction, and operation phases." Based on experience from over 1,000 project services, this article provides a brief analysis of the core value elements in the entire lifecycle of commercial and industrial energy storage.
I. Development and Demonstration: Establishing a Scientific Decision Analysis Model
In the project development phase, the authenticity of project information, accuracy of calculation results, and alignment of funding boundaries directly impact project feasibility and subsequent revenue assurance. Effectively controlling these three aspects is key for all energy storage investors.
1. Project Information
Comprehensive, authentic, efficient, and traceable project information are critical factors. Complete and efficient data collection forms, online traceable analysis and decision-making archiving tools, and digital convenient operation methods enable even non-professionals to quickly establish project archives, which is a prerequisite for project development.
2. Capacity Calculation
Accuracy, feasibility, and judgment capability are key factors in capacity calculation. Research shows that from 2021 to 2022, during the early development stage of commercial and industrial energy storage, due to inaccurate calculations, over 100 stations experienced revenue 20% lower than feasibility studies due to insufficient charging capacity or poor consumption. This caused significant revenue losses for investors and owners. With a high sense of responsibility toward clients, Soluna, based on actual revenue verification from numerous stations and full-year factory load data, has developed a simulation model for charging and discharging consumption analysis by incorporating simulated energy storage capacity. This enables precise output of installed capacity and has developed professional online tools that generate calculation reports with transparent logic to support decision-making.
3. Funding Alignment
Different investors have different investment boundaries, decision-making processes, and project requirements. Projects that "fail to complete" due to misalignment between project conditions and investor boundaries are common. The issue is not necessarily poor project resources or high funding costs, so how to efficiently match projects becomes a common challenge for investors and project owners. Only by effectively organizing basic project information to ensure complete and traceable information chains, having clear understanding of various investors' boundaries, and establishing clear matching mechanisms can online digital tools achieve rapid retrieval and matching. For example, state-owned projects match with investors focused on qualifications, high-return projects match with return-focused investors, and projects with stable loads match with investors seeking controlled returns. Only through precise boundary matching can rapid decision-making by owners and investors be supported, thus facilitating project implementation. Of course, flexible funding options such as contract energy management and financial leasing are also essential foundations for rapid matching.
II. Construction Implementation: Technical Penetration and Process Control
Construction is the inevitable process of transforming energy storage stations from paper plans to physical reality, integrating multiple elements and stakeholders. It's an irreversible process - once implemented, costs are fully invested and cannot be easily dismantled or modified. Therefore, construction implementation requires caution, professionalism, and strict control.
1. Deployment Feasibility
Adaptability to complex scenarios and sites is the basic condition for station implementation, and flexible deployment places high requirements on energy storage equipment, demanding small footprint, flexible arrangement, and simple foundation requirements. For example, two energy storage equipment options with identical prices, one requires trench digging and wiring channels due to underground cabling, while the other requires no trenching and can be installed on flat ground with convenient wiring. The engineering cost difference between the two could exceed 0.05 yuan/Wh, meaning for a 1MWh small commercial energy storage station, the engineering cost difference would exceed 50,000 yuan. People often only focus on the price of the energy storage equipment itself, ignoring engineering cost differences caused by equipment, leading to uncontrollable total station costs and subsequently reduced returns.
2. Connection Feasibility
Reasonable power distribution connection is the prerequisite for normal operation of energy storage equipment, which requires extensive testing to plan operating conditions. Key load, grid connection load, demand, photovoltaic, reverse current, etc., are all guiding indicators for energy storage, directing specific execution strategies. Different regions have different grid connection requirements, including isolation switches, fault separation, reverse current prevention, islanding prevention, etc., all requiring substantial experience accumulation. In recent years, projects with delayed acceptance due to grid connection design flaws are not uncommon. Clear and precise grid connection design planning can ensure rapid grid connection and station operation.
3. Safety Feasibility
Safety is an unavoidable topic in the energy storage industry. From a people-oriented perspective, safety non-compliance has veto power. Achieving controllable fire protection, manageable losses, clear bottom lines, and compliance with regulations is particularly important, placing high requirements on both energy storage equipment and station design. Energy storage equipment requires multiple prediction, control protection, fire protection, fire prevention, and explosion relief measures, with a complete fire protection system and comprehensive certification testing. Station design needs to consider fire lanes, firewalls, fire sealing, and fire isolation to minimize losses. Finally, based on equipment and stations, insurance is needed for loss protection.
4. EPC Professionalism and Efficiency
"Shoddy engineering" is the greatest concern for all construction projects. Energy storage stations involve certain civil and electrical engineering work, and EPC with professional qualifications is an effective guarantee of engineering quality. However, as a relatively independent industry, energy storage has its own characteristics in engineering requirements. From early rational design to later engineering implementation, Soluna has mature EPC resources in various regions. Standardized foundations, typical deployments, clear material consumption, and high-quality acceptance standards promote rapid, high-quality station construction, with all standards aimed at shortening construction cycles and investment payback periods.
III. Grid Connection and Operation: The First Visible and Measurable Result
All previous work serves station operation, as only operational stations generate revenue. Grid connection acceptance is the legal identification for energy storage stations and the official "offer" for stations to participate in work and receive compensation.
Operation mainly includes three stages: commissioning, grid connection, and acceptance. Through standardized operating procedures from commissioning, grid connection to acceptance stages of numerous stations, operators have rich experience to quickly and accurately complete equipment commissioning, achieving grid connection within the shortest power outage time as the minimum requirement. In terms of acceptance, products and stations require standardized, professional, and complete documentation, comprehensive national standard certification reports, and clear understanding of regional grid connection acceptance procedures, all requiring substantial experience accumulation. Soluna Energy's energy storage station acceptance first-time pass rate is ≥95%.
IV. Operation Revenue: Revenue is the Hard Truth
Returning to the essence of commercial investment in energy storage, the ultimate pursuit is revenue - stable revenue, controllable revenue, worry-free revenue. The completion of energy storage stations is just the first step, and many tasks remain to achieve the above revenue goals. Different investors have different pursuits, such as higher return rates, greater revenue volume, higher revenue sustainability, or higher additional incremental revenue.
1. Revenue Model
Common energy storage revenue models include peak shaving, demand control, virtual power plants, demand-side response, power auxiliary services, dynamic capacity expansion, photovoltaic-storage integrated applications, and storage-charging integration. However, a single station cannot accommodate all models, and some models are inherently conflicting. Therefore, how to effectively integrate multiple control strategies to obtain more revenue requires continuous research. Due to the unique load characteristics of each region and station, Soluna maintains over 30 combination strategies to quickly match different station needs and obtain more revenue.
2. Revenue Volume and Stability
After determining the model, revenue volume is mainly supported by equipment. Station capacity utilization rate and equipment conversion efficiency are key factors determining revenue volume. Cluster loop current, bucket effect, and battery attenuation control all impact station utilization. Therefore, effective thermal management that ensures cell life, optimal battery cluster voltage and PCS efficient fitting, and real-time recommendation and execution of optimal operating conditions are all effective design measures to improve equipment operating efficiency.
Revenue stability is the guarantee of continuous project revenue. Only with stable equipment, stable load, and well-matched control can revenue be stable. Standardized product design and independent equipment control redundancy can effectively improve equipment online rate; precise early-stage calculations and later accurate load tracking can enhance load consumption rate; daily second-level non-demand exceeding control, millisecond-level reverse current control, power factor control, and optimal demand recommendation can effectively avoid economic losses from demand exceeding and reverse current risks.
3. After-sales Maintenance and Revenue Protection
After station operation, everything serves equipment online rate, as only online equipment can continuously generate revenue. Therefore, a complete after-sales maintenance system is particularly important. Standard equipment configuration, replacement-based repair, unattended operation, minimal maintenance, 7×24 hour full-time response, and fault repair time <12 hours can effectively guarantee annual equipment online rate.
After-sales is the guarantee, insurance is the protection. Soluna Energy's free "Energy Storage Commercial Comprehensive Liability Insurance" can cover station accident losses, reducing investment risks.
4. Revenue Expansion
While reasonable revenue is guaranteed, energy storage stations can also contribute corresponding functional and social values. Emergency power supply, three-phase imbalance management, enhanced renewable energy consumption, reduced grid fluctuations and pressure, and support for green power, green certificates, and green carbon qualifications are all contributions energy storage stations can make toward carbon reduction goals.
Conclusion: Professionalism Drives Industry Evolution
In the 10+ year long-term operation of energy storage stations, Soluna Energy will continue to uphold three principles:
Technical Reverence: All solutions verified through CNAS laboratory 2,000+ hours of practical testing
Risk Transparency: Proactively disclosing potential project risk points and providing hedging solutions
Value Consensus: Rejecting excessive commitments, using dynamic models to present real revenue ranges
We firmly believe that only by viewing stations as dual carriers of "technical systems" and "commercial systems" and providing 100% full lifecycle services can we truly create asset value that transcends cycles for our customers.
Risk Transparency: Proactively disclosing potential project risk points and providing hedging solutions
Value Consensus: Rejecting excessive commitments, using dynamic models to present real revenue ranges
We firmly believe that only by viewing stations as dual carriers of "technical systems" and "commercial systems" and providing 100% full lifecycle services can we truly create asset value that transcends cycles for our customers.