At the 11th Western Energy Storage Forum, CNESA Chairman Chen Haisheng unveiled the industry's H1 2026 dataset: China commissioned 21.81GW/58.60GWh of new storage in H1 2026 — down 18% in power and 16% in energy terms year-on-year, the first-ever decline in domestic deployments. Cumulative power-storage capacity still grew to 237.7GW (+41.7% YoY), and cumulative new-storage capacity reached 168.3GW/448.7GWh (+59%/+71%), 15% higher than at end-2025.
The dip is a structural shift, not shrinkage. The number of newly commissioned projects fell 51% year-on-year, yet the share of projects of 100MW or above rose 8%, average storage duration reached 2.69 hours (+2.3%), and the share of four-hour-plus projects climbed 4.8 points — confirming that the market is moving from pure volume growth toward optimising plant scale and duration profiles, with long-duration storage gaining ground.
Standalone storage has become the engine of domestic deployment. 15.1GW of standalone storage was commissioned in H1 2026 — 69.3% of all new capacity, up 13.9% year-on-year. Following National Document No. 114, which established China's first national capacity pricing mechanism for standalone storage, seven provinces (Gansu, Jilin, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Hubei, Ningxia, Qinghai) have issued capacity-tariff implementation rules, forming a three-pillar revenue model: capacity tariffs, energy markets and ancillary services. Headwinds persist — narrowing spot-market peak-valley spreads and rising charging costs make project development, trading strategy and full-lifecycle O&M the new battleground for viability.
Prices are firming as competition shifts from price-cutting to capability. Centralised procurement and framework agreements totalled 80.16GWh (+95% YoY), awarded EPC capacity hit 161.2GWh (+112%), and the number of winning EPC bidders grew 88% to 580. Average winning prices rose across the board: RMB 599.3/kWh for 2-hour systems (+8.3%) and RMB 541.3/kWh for 4-hour systems (+21.1%). Along the industrial chain, Chinese manufacturers shipped 380GWh of lithium-ion storage cells globally in H1 2026, against 809.5GWh of domestic operational cell capacity — competition is shifting from aggressive buildout toward reliable, high-quality supply.
Technology roadmaps are diversifying. AI data centres (AIDC) have emerged as a major new demand market, pulling high-rate cells, backup power and integrated energy solutions into the market, while long-duration technologies (flow batteries, compressed air) deploy at an accelerated pace and sodium-ion and flywheel storage advance in parallel. The industry's boundary is extending beyond hardware into power electronics, energy management and end-to-end services.
Overseas is where the growth is: Chinese enterprises secured 298GWh in overseas contracts in H1 2026, an 83% year-on-year surge. Europe remains a core market, with the Middle East, India and Chile growing fastest. The model has evolved from pure product export toward overseas manufacturing bases, local O&M services, technical partnerships and turnkey delivery — with trade barriers, supply-chain security and local regulatory compliance the key headwinds.
Looking to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, CNESA projects cumulative installed capacity of 371–451GW by 2030, a CAGR of 20.7–25.5%, as storage evolves from a renewables-supporting tool into a core building block of the new power system. "While scale continues to expand, the underlying logic of the storage sector has shifted. This is the most critical signal the industry has sent in H1 2026," Chen Haisheng said.
WHY IT MATTERS
- A volume-to-value inflection from the world's largest market: the first-ever deployment dip plus an 8.3–21.1% price recovery shows China's price-war era is ending — a signal for global buyers watching 324Ah/314Ah system pricing.
- Export orders +83% with a shift from product sales to local manufacturing and services: overseas localisation, compliance and supply-chain resilience — not price — are now the decisive factors for Chinese suppliers competing abroad.
- Capacity-tariff recognition validates the storage revenue model: China's three-pillar framework (capacity + energy + ancillary) mirrors the capacity-market debate playing out in Europe and Australia — storage owners are being paid for availability, not just energy.
- AI data centres are the shared growth story: AIDC-driven storage demand now appears in Chinese data, US C&I figures and European strategic-project policy alike — the single most consistent trend across this week's news.
THE EXLIPORC PERSPECTIVE
With Europe the core destination for Chinese storage exports, buyers' real question is no longer price per kWh — it is local availability, certification and after-sales response. EXLIPORC answers that question from its EU stock hub in Poland, shipping LFP energy storage systems (including the 16.58kWh 324Ah long-life model) across Europe within days, with CE-marked, factory-tested units and direct manufacturer support. Contact gina@exliporcpower.com or visit www.exliporcpower.com.
