China H1 2026: New-type energy storage additions fall 18%, overseas orders jump 83%

China commissioned 21.81 GW/58.60 GWh of new-type energy storage — a Chinese policy category covering energy storage technologies other than conventional pumped hydro — in the first half of 2026, with additions falling 18% in power terms and 16% in energy terms from a year earlier, according to the China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA).

The figures were released on Aug. 27 by CNESA Chairman Chen Haisheng, who is also director of the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, during the 11th Western Energy Storage Forum in Lanzhou, Gansu province.

CNESA DataLink statistics show that China had 237.7 GW of cumulative power storage capacity at the end of June, up 41.7% year-on-year. New-type energy storage reached 168.3 GW/448.7 GWh, increasing 59% and 71%, respectively, from a year earlier.

Figure 1: Cumulative installed capacity of China (Source: CNESA)

Despite slower additions, projects are becoming larger and longer-duration. The number of newly commissioned projects fell 51% year on year, while the share of projects rated at 100 MW or above increased by eight percentage points. Average storage duration reached 2.69 hours, with the share of projects exceeding four hours also increasing.

Independent storage accounted for most new capacity, with 15.1 GW installed during the six-month period, representing 69.3% of additions. CNESA said the shift reflects China’s transition away from storage deployed primarily as mandatory support for renewable projects toward assets earning revenues from energy markets, ancillary services and capacity mechanisms. China introduced a national framework for capacity payments for eligible grid-side independent storage in January.

Procurement activity remained strong despite the slowdown in commissioning. Centralized and framework tenders for storage systems reached 80.16 GWh, up 95% year on year, while EPC awards reached 161.2 GWh, up 112%. System prices also moved higher: CNESA put average winning bids at CNY 599.3 ($84) per kWh for two-hour systems and CNY 541.3/kWh for four-hour systems, increases of 8.3% and 21.1%, respectively.

Chinese manufacturers shipped 380 GWh of lithium-ion cells for power storage globally during the first half, while operational domestic storage-cell manufacturing capacity reached 809.5 GWh, excluding flexible production lines shared with EV batteries.

Overseas expansion accelerated even faster. Chinese companies signed 298 GWh of overseas energy storage orders in H1, up 83% year on year, according to CNESA. Europe remained a major destination, while the Middle East, India and Chile recorded faster growth. CNESA said companies are increasingly moving beyond equipment exports toward overseas manufacturing, localized services, technology partnerships and integrated energy solutions.

Looking ahead, CNESA expects China’s cumulative new-type energy storage capacity to reach between 200.7 GW and 221.9 GW by the end of 2026, and between 371.2 GW and 450.7 GW by 2030, depending on the development scenario. The alliance expects the sector’s next growth phase to be increasingly shaped by project economics, longer-duration technologies, grid-forming storage and new demand from AI data centers.