Zenergy bets big on battery storage with 50 GWh long-duration storage manufacturing plant

Zenergy Battery has signed an agreement with Suzhou Xiangcheng Economic and Technological Development Zone for a 50 GWh next-generation long-duration energy storage smart manufacturing project, marking the company’s largest single storage manufacturing base since its establishment.

The agreement was signed on March 19, 2026. The project will be developed by Suzhou Lishen Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Zenergy Battery. With total planned investment of around CNY 5.2 billion ($720 million), the site is positioned as the company’s East China storage headquarters, integrating R&D, smart manufacturing, global sales, and operations and maintenance services.

The facility will be built in two phases. Phase one with 25 GWh of capacity will start construction in the second half of 2026 and production scheduled for the third quarter of 2027. Phase two will add another 25 GWh and is expected to be completed in 2028.

The Suzhou base will focus on large-capacity lithium iron phosphate cells for long-duration storage. According to the company, the products are designed for 4-hour and longer charge-discharge cycles, with single-cell capacity of more than 300 Ah, cycle life of at least 12,000 cycles at 80% discharge, and a calendar life of at least 25 years. The site will also include an energy storage R&D center, a cell testing center, and system integration lines covering cell, module, pack, and system production.

For Zenergy, the project is a key step in its shift toward energy storage. Zenergy Battery Holdings Ltd., listed in Hong Kong, was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Suzhou. Historically focused on power batteries, the company began repositioning energy storage as a core growth business in 2025.

By the end of 2025, Zenergy had around 45 GWh of commissioned capacity across Suzhou, Nanjing, Ganzhou, and Yibin. After the Suzhou signing, its total planned capacity will exceed 150 GWh. The company said the new base will fill a capacity gap in East China, where storage demand is strongest, while shortening delivery times through localized production.

Shipment data underscore that transition. In 2024, Zenergy’s storage cell shipments stood at around 0.8 GWh, mainly for domestic commercial and industrial storage and overseas residential orders. In 2025, storage shipments rose to 3.6 GWh, up 350% year on year, with grid-scale storage accounting for 65% of the total. Overseas shipments represented more than 40%, covering Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

Zenergy expressed the project will also help build a broader storage supply chain cluster in Suzhou, spanning cathode materials, separators, electrolytes, structural components, and system integration.