en.Wedoany.com Report on Mar 30th, China's first aqueous organic flow battery distribution transformer area energy storage project, jointly developed by Suqian Times Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd. and State Grid Electric Power Research Institute Co., Ltd., was recently officially put into use in Suqian Economic Development Zone, and simultaneously implemented in Chuzhou City, Anhui Province. This innovation fills the technical gap in distributed new energy consumption and distribution network optimization, providing a replicable solution for the national energy transition.
With the expansion of residential photovoltaic scale, rural and urban distribution networks face challenges such as voltage limit violations, reverse heavy overload, and insufficient consumption capacity, affecting the efficient utilization of new energy. Transformer area energy storage, as a key method of configuring energy storage on the low-voltage side of transformers, can effectively balance voltage and shave peaks and fill valleys. "The Suqian Economic Development Zone project adopts our self-developed aqueous organic flow battery technology. The electrolyte does not burn when exposed to open flames and can be recycled in an environmentally friendly manner. It features intrinsic safety and ultra-long cycle life, making it suitable for the reliability and all-weather operation requirements of transformer area energy storage," said Yao Jiannan, Marketing Director of Times Energy Storage.
The project has achieved several technological advancements: pioneering an organic quaternary ammonium salt derivative electrolyte system, developing a high ionic conductivity anion exchange membrane, and overcoming the core technology of precise multi-field coupling control. Yao Jiannan pointed out that the microgrid autonomous control technology has shown significant effects. By pioneering a multi-variable state feedback grid-forming control algorithm with additional phase angle control, the organic flow battery energy storage converter achieves flexible inertia and damping adjustment, greatly enhancing the microgrid's anti-disturbance capability.
In terms of application, the Suqian Economic Development Zone project, through coordinated control of photovoltaic, storage, charging, and load, has increased the photovoltaic consumption rate in the demonstration area to over 98%, achieving seamless grid-connected and off-grid switching. It ensures 100% uninterrupted power supply for critical loads during main grid faults, providing technical support for zero-carbon microgrid operation.
Wang Xiuru, Party Branch Secretary of Suqian Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd., who participated in the research and development, stated that the value of the project lies in transforming the technology from a "showpiece" into a "landscape." It verifies the applicability of aqueous organic flow batteries in microgrid scenarios, explores a path from laboratory breakthroughs to cross-provincial replication, and from pilot application to industrial cultivation, providing a reference solution for the large-scale development of new energy storage technologies.
In recent years, Suqian has promoted the integration of the innovation chain and the new energy storage industry chain through policy guidance and industrial chain layout. In 2025, the city's energy storage industry chain output value exceeded 30 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 10%, becoming a new growth point for the regional economy. Based on this project, Suqian will establish a "Special Fund for New Energy Storage Technology Innovation" to guide enterprises in layout planning for flow batteries, solid-state batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and other fields, accelerating the construction of a more competitive new energy storage industry ecosystem and contributing to the national new energy policies.
