The market of Solar batteries as same as the early stage of EV batteries, still in a disorderly, homogenized expansion phase, where loss-making profit and the survival of the fittest are very common phenomena.
According to statistics, there is a huge inventory of solar energy storage batteries. In 2022, the industry produced more than 20GWh of excess energy storage batteries. But 2023, was approximately 50GWh to 80GWh depends on different methods. However, it is reach out 2-3time increased by 2023.
Therefore, the industry needs to solve the problem as an inventory of energy storage batteries as high as 70GWh to 100GWh, which is almost the demand for the entire previous year. So, the energy storage battery market will be in trouble, and this year may see a very severe reshuffle, with many companies going out of business.
Bidding prices in the energy storage market are also repeatedly hitting new lows.
Refer to Jiemian Media, a case of the bid results for the procurement of energy storage system equipment for Xinjiang Lixin Energy Qitai County’s 125MW energy storage + 500MW (wind and solar combined) new energy project were announced, with Xujie Electric winning the bid. The equivalent unit price of the energy storage system for this project has dropped to as low as 0.564 yuan/Wh, once again setting a new record for the lowest price of new energy storage systems. At the beginning of 2023, the average unit price of energy storage systems was around 1.5 yuan/Wh, which is nearly 3times decresed
“solar storage batteries are fiercely competitive in price, which will also prevent the price of power batteries from rising,” Moko said. Moreover, energy storage batteries are likely to be inclined towards low-end electric vehicles to digest inventory, further squeezing the power battery market.
Overall, the power battery market is still in a trough with low production and sales. The inventory of new energy vehicles is high, the willingness to purchase is low, and the production willingness of power battery companies is also low because the current battery prices are too low, with many companies unable to even cover costs. Moreover, the industry’s production sentiment has not recovered from last year’s large-scale destocking phase.
As for when the industry will be able to emerge from this trough, no one can say for sure. And as the industry slowly climbs out of the trough, the “invisible hand” of the market has already begun a new round of eliminations.
