CEEC’s 7 GWh battery storage cell procurement sees low end prices at $47/kWh

China’s latest gigawatt-scale battery energy storage cell procurement has established new pricing benchmarks across multiple product categories, as China Energy Engineering Group subsidiary CEEC Energy Storage Technology (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. announced the shortlisted bidders for its latest tender.

On May 7, CEEC confirmed that six companies had been selected: Shuangdeng Group, Rongjie Energy, Desay Battery, CALB, EVE Energy, and Pengcheng Infinite. Notably, both CALB and EVE Energy qualified for two separate bidding packages.

The procurement was launched on February 6, 2026, and covers two procurement packages with a combined capacity of 7 GWh. Package 1 comprises 5 GWh of 0.5C and 0.25C battery cells with capacities of at least 314Ah, specified as prismatic aluminum-shell LFP batteries with dimensions of approximately 207 × 174 × 72 mm. Package 2 covers 2 GWh of 0.5C and 0.25C battery cells with capacities of at least 500Ah, also requiring prismatic aluminum-shell LFP batteries, although no dimensional specifications were outlined.

For Package 1, covering 2026 battery cells rated at 0.5C and 0.25C with capacities of at least 314Ah, Shuangdeng Group submitted a bid of RMB 1.7245 billion, equivalent to 0.345 RMB/Wh, while Rongjie Energy offered the lowest price at RMB 1.7 billion, or 0.34 RMB/Wh ($47/kWh). Desay Battery and CALB each submitted bids of RMB 1.825 billion, equivalent to 0.365 RMB/Wh, while EVE Energy bid RMB 1.97 billion, or 0.394 RMB/Wh.

For Package 2, covering 2026 battery cells rated at 0.5C and 0.25C with capacities of at least 500Ah, EVE Energy submitted a bid of RMB 766 million, equivalent to 0.383 RMB/Wh, while CALB offered RMB 750 million, or 0.375 RMB/Wh. Pengcheng Infinite submitted the lowest bid at RMB 720.4 million, equivalent to 0.360 RMB/Wh.

The latest procurement differs markedly from earlier tenders conducted by China Energy Engineering Group, reflecting the industry’s growing consolidation around two dominant battery cell formats. In CEEC’s 2025 centralized procurement for energy storage cells, nearly the entire 7,248 MWh tender was awarded to 314 Ah products. The tender was divided into 10 packages covering cell capacities of 50 Ah, 100 Ah, 280 Ah, and 314 Ah.

At the time, the smaller-format 50 Ah and 100 Ah packages – totaling 16 MWh and 32 MWh respectively – failed to attract any bids. In the 314 Ah category, Cornex secured the largest allocation at 2,920 MWh, followed by Trina Storage with 2,180 MWh, Hithium with 1,400 MWh, and Gotion with 700 MWh. At 7.2 GWh, the procurement volume for 314 Ah cells alone represented a record-high centralized battery cell tender in China at the time.