In the fierce competition in the energy storage industry, the risk of cyclical fluctuations caused by structural overcapacity is becoming increasingly prominent, and at the same time, energy storage cells are galloping towards large capacity, while the pursuit of safety, cost and other factors in downstream energy storage system integration has been consistent. All these changes are forcing the field of key components of energy storage, including battery cells, PCS, BMS, EMS, fire protection, temperature control, etc., to carry out technical product innovation and market strategy adjustment. Among them, PCS, as the core component of the energy storage system, has become more and more valuable in its iterative evolution of technology. Recently, a number of PCS manufacturers have prepared for technological innovation iteration and market strategy adjustment in response to the changes in the energy storage market in 2024, such as larger scale, higher energy density, long life, high safety and other trends, so as to cope with more fierce market competition. From a technical point of view, energy storage PCS can achieve lower cost, higher efficiency and higher reliability, which can not only bring better benefits to the first chain, but also provide users with more stable products, thereby improving user value. A number of manufacturers have said that it is expected that the competition in the field of energy storage PCS will be more fierce this year. On the one hand, in 2023, the PCS field will perform hotly in the financing of the energy storage industry, attracting many leading enterprises to actively expand production; On the other hand, the original old photovoltaic inverter companies have also accelerated their entry into the energy storage PCS market, and at the same time, a number of start-ups with distinctive characteristics have emerged in the PCS track. In the face of the overall pressure of the energy storage industry, the determination of energy storage PCS manufacturers to change in 2024 has been very obvious. 
Although PCS accounts for about 15%-20% of the cost of energy storage systems, second only to energy storage lithium batteries, it plays a vital role in the safety, stability and long-term benefits of the entire system. Driven by the rapid growth of the energy storage market in 2021 and 2022, the demand for PCS has also shown explosive growth. However, since the third quarter of 2023, the growth rate of domestic PCS enterprises has slowed down significantly due to the impact of the lower-than-expected installation rate of European inventories, the slowdown in demand growth in North America and other places, and the continuous release of domestic production capacity and the involution of the industry. Despite this, the potential of the overall market for the energy storage industry, including PCS, is still huge. For PCS manufacturers, they should maintain their original intentions, focus on technology research and development and product quality improvement, and create greater value for customers. At the same time, they also need to realize that the market competition will become more intense, the competitive pressure will only increase, and the market threshold will be higher and higher. Although this competition will bring pressure, it will also push the industry forward and achieve the survival of the fittest. From the perspective of products, energy storage systems, including batteries, will continue to decline in 2023, and 280ah cells** have fallen to 045 Wh. In order to digest production capacity, some PCS manufacturers have taken price reduction and clearance measures, resulting in PCS** also declining in the second half of last year. It is expected that in 2024, energy storage PCS products** are expected to bottom out and gradually stabilize. For new PCS manufacturers, the threshold of the large storage market is getting higher and higher, and it will be difficult to gain a foothold without sufficient strength. Therefore, many energy storage PCS manufacturers established in recent years have turned their attention to the industrial and commercial energy storage segment with high gross profit and still in the early stage of development. In the future, the market will gradually diverge, and some manufacturers who cannot keep up with the pace of industry development may face the risk of being weakened or even eliminated, and the entire market will also accelerate into the knockout stage. In the wave of involution, energy storage PCS manufacturers are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. With the continuous progress of energy storage system integration technology, its requirements for system life and safety are becoming more and more stringent, which undoubtedly puts forward higher requirements for PCS's technical iteration and product innovation. At this juncture of change, PCS manufacturers need to assess the situation, keep up with the pace of the market, and start from two aspects: technological breakthroughs and product upgrades to meet the increasingly complex needs of energy storage system integration. Looking ahead, the development trend of PCS will pay more attention to the improvement of users' actual income to promote its economy and popularity. Enterprises need to pay close attention to market dynamics, quickly respond to the needs of grid dispatching and regulation, and provide users with more stable and efficient energy storage solutions. According to a number of PCS manufacturers, 2024 will be a key year for energy storage PCS technology innovation and product iteration. Power improvement, high pressure, modular cluster management and liquid cooling technology are considered to be the main directions of PCS technology evolution this year. Centralized and string will develop in parallel, with the centralized type moving towards greater single power, higher safety and lower cost, while the string type needs to adapt to larger capacity cells and make great efforts to reduce costs. Since 2023, string PCS has emerged in the field of industrial and commercial energy storage, and its modular design makes the capacity scale more flexible and the cluster management has also achieved more precise control. In addition, the trend of modular PCS and high voltage is attracting wide attention from the industry. The high-voltage PCS can not only bring better application experience and cost reduction, but also provide a strong guarantee for the efficient operation of the energy storage system. As an important branch of PCS technology iteration, liquid cooling technology plays a key role in improving product power density, optimizing performance indicators and enhancing environmental adaptability. Especially in the context of the current development of energy storage projects to larger scale and higher energy density, the importance of liquid-cooled PCS is becoming more and more prominent. Although the initial cost of liquid-cooled PCS is still high, it is still highly competitive in many scenarios from the perspective of the comprehensive cost of the whole life cycle. It is worth mentioning that the network construction technology will attract much attention from the industry in 2023. The core of grid-based energy storage lies in PCS, which needs to have higher technical requirements than traditional PCS products. Although many PCS manufacturers have accelerated the technology research and development and product launch in the field of network-building PCS, industry insiders generally believe that the demand for network-based PCS in 2024 will be relatively limited, and its application will not be rolled out in a large area. In this era full of changes, energy storage PCS manufacturers need to continue to innovate and keep up with the pace of the market to meet the growing needs of users. At the same time, it is also necessary to keep a cool head and carefully evaluate market trends and technological developments in order to formulate a more robust development strategy. Only in this way can we stand out in the fierce competition and become the leader in the industry.
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