On September 9, the candidates for the winning bidders for the procurement of energy storage system equipment for the Hebei Renqiu Zhihong 100MW/400MWh New Technology Route LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) Battery + Sodium-Ion Battery Independent Energy Storage Pilot Project were announced. In Lot 1 (LFP energy storage system), Envision Energy and Kunyu Power were shortlisted, with a bidding unit price of approximately CNY 0.518-0.525/Wh. In Lot 2 (sodium-ion energy storage system), CATL (300750), Tianjin Lantian Sun Technology, and Inovance Technology (300124) were shortlisted, with a bidding unit price of approximately CNY 0.96-1.105/Wh. Notably, comparing the highest unit prices of the two lots, the unit price of sodium-ion batteries is about twice that of lithium batteries.
According to the bidding documents, this project is a new technology route independent energy storage pilot project, located in Liujiapo Village, Majiawu Town, Renqiu City, Cangzhou, Hebei Province. It involves the construction of a 100MW/400MWh new technology route LFP + sodium-ion battery independent energy storage system. The energy storage batteries adopt 90% capacity of LFP batteries and 10% capacity of sodium-ion batteries, including 30MW/120MWh large-capacity LFP, 60MW/240MWh long-life LFP, and 10MW/40MWh sodium-ion batteries.
The project is supported by the construction of one 220kV step-up substation and the purchase of one 220kV main transformer with a voltage level of 220/35kV, which will be connected to the Jilu 220kV substation via one 220kV line. The project is divided into two lots in total.
Lot 1 is a 90MW/360MWh LFP battery energy storage system. In the announcement, the first winning candidate is Envision Energy Co., Ltd., with an evaluated price of CNY 186.48 million, equivalent to a unit price of approximately CNY 0.518/Wh; the second winning candidate is Kunyu Power Co., Ltd., with an evaluated price of CNY 189 million, equivalent to a unit price of approximately CNY 0.525/Wh. Lot 2 is a 10MW/40MWh sodium-ion energy storage system. The first winning candidate is Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), with an evaluated price of CNY 41.4162 million, equivalent to a unit price of approximately CNY 1.035/Wh; the second winning candidate is Tianjin Lantian Sun Technology Co., Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of CETC Lantian), with an evaluated price of CNY 38.4 million, equivalent to a unit price of approximately CNY 0.96/Wh; the third winning candidate is Suzhou Inovance Technology Co., Ltd., with an evaluated price of CNY 42.4 million, equivalent to a unit price of approximately CNY 1.06/Wh. Other bidders for this lot include Shanghai Electric Group Power Transmission & Distribution Equipment Co., Ltd., whose technical blind bid did not meet the compilation requirements for technical blind bids in the bidding documents. Looking closely at the three sodium-ion energy storage companies shortlisted for Lot 2, their progress in sodium-ion technology varies.
CATL has released the Tianheng sodium-ion energy storage system and plans to deliver the first batch of products in September. Its appearance in the Renqiu project signifies that its sodium-ion products are further deployed in energy storage engineering applications. Backed by CETC Lantian, Tianjin Lantian Sun Technology has already applied its sodium-ion battery energy storage system in microgrid scenarios, and its bid of CNY 0.96/Wh is also the lowest among the three.
Beyond lithium batteries, Inovance Technology also focuses on new technologies such as sodium-ion, flow, and flywheel energy storage, which have unique advantages in certain special industrial scenarios, and deployed a 50MW sodium-ion project in the first half of this year.
Overall, although the sodium-ion lot in the Renqiu project is only 10MW/40MWh, sodium-ion batteries were tendered as an independent lot alongside lithium batteries, entering the local new energy storage pilot. With a unit price about twice that of lithium batteries, this indicates that the engineering verification of sodium-ion batteries in energy storage scenarios is accelerating. Future cost reduction and scaling will still depend on the delivery volume of leading enterprises.
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