Introduction  Global climate change and its negative impacts are serious humanitarian challenges. Accelerating the construction of a new energy system and promoting energy transition to green and low-carbon are the key to addressing the above challenge. Building a new power system is the central link in planning and constructing a new energy system.

  Method  The characteristics and challenges in the six stages of constructing a new power system with new energy source as the main body, and potential roles of energy storage were described and analyzed. The viewpoint that energy storage, especially long-term energy storage, is a key technology for building a new power system was proposed.

  Result  To deal with vague concept, unclear technical system and undefined R&D system for long duration energy storage in China, by analyzing the international use cases, the concept system of long-duration energy storage and its technology system covering four categories (including mechanical energy storage, thermal storage, electrochemical energy storage, and chemical energy storage) are proposed. And the R&D trends in developed countries are shown.

  Conclusion  It is expected that the relevant content can provide reference for the research and application of long duration energy storage in China.