Subtitle: China mobile first, centralized procurement bidding LiFePO4 Battery will be with 5G throughout China

On March 4, 2020, China Mobile Limited revealed its 2020 bidding announcement for the centralized procurement of lithium iron phosphate battery(LiFePO4 battery) products for the use of elecommunications.

It plans to purchase a total of 610.2 million Ah (specification 3.2V) for lithium iron phosphate batteries for telecommunications with no more than 2.508 billion CNY. Purchasing is required to complete within 1 year.

The construction of 5G base station is double or even several times the demand for iron lithium(LiFePO4). Zhongguancun new battery technology innovation alliance secretary general Mr Yu qingjiao said.

The replacement of lead acid by LiFePO4 Battery is the trend

“As far as we know, the Chinese tower purchased 30-40 billion CNY worth of batteries last year.” Yu revealed that lithium iron phosphate battery(LiFePO4) is currently the most suitable technology route for 5G base station energy storage. With the commercial promotion of 5G, lithium iron phosphate battery will usher in a new dividend period.

According to the introduction, the communication backup power supply is usually assembled in the base station machine room with the battery cabinet, in the case of the base station power supply emergency power, for the base station’s normal work and smooth communication to provide guarantee.

 Lithium iron phosphate energy storage products

Some industry insiders said that the densely arranged 5G base stations show a trend of miniaturization and lightening, energy storage batteries need to use lithium batteries with higher energy density, and most of them use lithium iron phosphate batteries for standby power. “it is an inevitable trend for base station energy storage to replace lead acid with iron lithium”.

Compared with 3/4g communication, 5G base station requires high-density layout and shows a trend of miniaturization. Therefore, lithium iron phosphate battery with higher energy density has become the first choice for lead-acid battery. “A 5G base station on the roof, for example, can’t use heavy lead-acid batteries. It can only use iron-lithium batteries.” “China tower has not purchased lead-acid batteries since 2018,” Yu said.

In addition, 5G base station energy storage battery can not only be used as a backup power supply, but also be applied to the time-of-use electricity price “peak cutting and valley filling”. China unicom previously released 5G enabling ubiquitous power Internet of things 2020, including 5G base station energy storage peak adjustment application scenario. This means that the number of energy storage cycles in the base station will increase significantly.

According to the calculation, lead acid battery needs to be replaced about 6 times for 7,000 cycles, and iron phosphate lithium battery does not need to be replaced. At present, the cost of lithium iron phosphate battery is about RMB0.7/wh, which is twice that of lead-acid battery. However, under 7,000 cycle life, the cost of lithium iron phosphate battery is only one third of that of lead-acid battery.

Performance comparison of lead-acid battery and lithium iron phosphate battery(LiFePO4)

5G base station construction releases dividends

 It is estimated that from 2020 to 2023, the storage demand of standby power

brought by 5G base station is 7.6GWh, 9.7GWh, 10.8GWh and 11.9GWh respectively. If “5G+ peak adjustment” is realized, it will bring about a further substantial increase in the demand for lithium iron phosphate energy storage batteries.

Calculation of energy storage demand of 5G base station

According to the data of each operator’s annual report in 2018, there are at least 14.38 million base stations in China that need to be built or renovated. The energy consumption of a single station is 2700W and the number of emergency time is 4h. There is at least 155GWh battery capacity in the energy storage market. According to the SMM new energy database, China’s production of lithium iron phosphate may reach 98,000 tons in 2019, up 51% year on year, and will continue to grow at a high speed in 2020.

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