Recently, the Energy Bureau of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued a notice on the issuance of "Several Policy Measures for Energy Science and Technology Innovation in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region".

The document proposes to promote technological breakthroughs in energy storage with high safety, low cost, and long lifespan. Focusing on efficient and long-life energy storage technologies such as green methanol synthesis and green ammonia synthesis, non lithium electrochemical energy storage technologies that are not constrained by resources, new energy storage technologies that are inherently safe, new energy storage technologies and hybrid energy storage technologies that adapt to high-frequency rapid response, and new generation energy storage safety warning technologies based on electrochemical physical models, we will carry out major national and autonomous region science and technology demonstration application projects such as "energy storage and smart grid" and "breakthrough" engineering energy storage and new power system locations, and carry out key technology research and demonstration engineering construction.

This time, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Energy Bureau issued the "Policy Measures", which is the first time that China has explicitly proposed to support the development of non lithium electrochemical energy storage technology at the policy level. At the same time, the document proposes to promote the development of energy storage technology towards high safety, low cost, and long lifespan.

In the wave of global energy structure transformation, non lithium and long-term energy storage technologies are becoming the key to supporting large-scale integration of renewable energy and ensuring stable operation of the power grid. In the United States, this trend is particularly significant. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released a series of reports titled "The Road to Business Expansion", pointing out that long-term energy storage technology has enormous potential in improving grid resilience, promoting the consumption of renewable energy, and enhancing energy security. By 2060, the US power grid may need 225-460 GW of long-term energy storage capacity to achieve a net zero economy, with a cumulative investment of up to $330 billion.

This year, the US government and businesses are promoting the commercialization and large-scale application of non lithium, long-term energy storage technologies through funding, technology research and development, and policy support

On July 2024, the Clean Energy Demonstration Office (OCED) under the US Department of Energy announced a $100 million funding opportunity for fixed energy storage and non lithium energy storage technologies, with plans to fund 5-15 projects ranging from $5 million to $20 million each. This initiative focuses on the pilot demonstration of non lithium long-term energy storage technologies with a discharge duration of ≥ 10h, including flow batteries, aiming to promote the commercialization process of these technologies.

On September 2024,The Clean Energy Demonstration Office (OCED) of the US Department of Energy (DOE) has opened a $100 million federal funding application to support pilot scale energy storage demonstration projects for non lithium battery technologies, over 10 hour discharge systems, and fixed energy storage applications. The aim is to promote the maturity of non lithium long-term energy storage (LDES) technology, reduce cost and performance uncertainty, and enhance investor and end-user confidence in the commercial maturity of the technology.

In China, on February 22, 2022, two ministries officially issued the "Implementation Plan for the Development of New Energy Storage during the 14th Five Year Plan Period" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), which provides content regulations and direction for the market status, development goals, and key tasks of the domestic new energy storage industry during the 14th Five Year Plan period. Compared to previous policies, the Implementation Plan focuses more on diversified energy storage technology investment and demonstration, explicitly mentioning the optimization design research of various technological routes such as sodium ion batteries, lead carbon batteries, flow batteries, hydrogen (ammonia) energy storage, etc. Secondly, technology routes such as 100MW compressed air energy storage, 100MW liquid flow batteries, sodium ions, solid-state lithium-ion batteries, and liquid metal batteries are the key directions for technological equipment research and development in the energy storage industry during the 14th Five Year Plan period. This highlights the trend of diversified demonstration of energy storage technology, and the proportion of non lithium-ion energy storage technology installed is expected to expand.

With the transformation of the global energy structure and the construction of new power systems, energy storage technology is gradually becoming an indispensable part of energy infrastructure, and the global demand for power storage will enter the TWh era. Energy storage technology, as a key support for energy transformation, presents an urgent demand for high safety, low cost, and long lifespan in its development trend. These demands not only drive innovation in energy storage technology, but also indicate the diversified development of energy storage technology. Among the new energy storage technologies that are non lithium electrochemical and inherently safe, flow battery energy storage technology has attracted much attention due to its unique advantages of intrinsic safety, energy storage time of ≥ 4 hours, and low cost per kilowatt hour. It can also meet the demand for energy storage technology in the development of new energy. Its development and application prospects are broad, and its commercial potential is enormous. It is expected to become a key force in promoting global energy transformation.