China's National Energy Administration (NEA) reported at its quarterly briefing on 30 October 2026 that new-type energy storage capacity reached 167GW/435GWh by the end of September, up 63% year on year, as the industry shifts from pure scale expansion to "scale and quality in parallel" and moves toward the TWh era.
At its Q3 2026 press briefing on 30 October 2026, the NEA disclosed the following operating figures for the first three quarters (as reported by Tansuo Energy Storage on 31 October 2026 and Sina Finance on 30 October 2026):
Metric | Value at end-September 2026 | YoY change |
New-type storage installed capacity | 167 million kW / 435 million kWh | +63% |
Average storage duration | 2.61 hours | +0.27 hours |
Equivalent utilization hours | about 915 hours | +10 hours |
Solar PV installed capacity | 1.31 billion kW | rising |
Coal-fired generation share | 49.1% | declining |
Investment remains strong: Sina Finance (30 October 2026) cited briefing data showing combined investment in power grids, new-type storage and charging/battery-swap infrastructure grew 15.3% YoY in the first three quarters, while new-type storage investment rose 74.3% YoY in H1 2026. At provincial level, China Financial Information Network (29 October 2026) reported that the Inner Mongolia grid's operating new-type storage reached 20.23GW/70.47GWh as of 27 October, 11.5% of total grid capacity.
For equipment makers and integrators the signal is clear: storage is no longer an accessory to renewables but a grid-infrastructure category alongside generation and transmission. Demand drivers are diversifying beyond mandated renewable-pairing into independent storage plants, compute-center supply and green-power direct connection.
A new phrase from this briefing is "compute-power coordination" (算电协同). Tansuo Energy Storage (31 October 2026) reported that green-power direct connection is the key route — point-to-point supply from renewable plants to computing centers, supporting low-carbon power for AI workloads while expanding local consumption of renewables. The NEA said it will strengthen planning, promote demonstration projects and refine market mechanisms to coordinate the new-type power system with the integrated computing network.
For storage vendors this creates two opportunities: data centers' need for uninterrupted, highly reliable power turns storage from an option into required infrastructure; and direct-connection projects reward systems with long cycle life and stable output backed by field-proven data. In the China Securities Journal industry survey (30 October 2026, redistributed by Xinhua), Lin Jiubiao, CTO of CATL's domestic energy storage solutions, noted that U.S. computing centers urgently need uninterrupted, highly reliable supply, and that different scenarios place differentiated demands on cycle life, temperature tolerance and response speed.
"Moving from GWh to TWh, the most profound change is that storage is no longer just an accessory to renewables — it is becoming indispensable new infrastructure of the power system," Lin Jiubiao said in the China Securities Journal survey (30 October 2026). He added that the industry's evaluation system has fundamentally changed: in the TWh era, plant returns are determined by efficiency, degradation, availability and O&M cost together — not by initial factory specifications. Reliability verification has moved from component-level spot testing to whole-station, full-condition, long-term field validation.
Manufacturing thresholds are rising accordingly. Lin said CATL's extreme-manufacturing system keeps cell failure rates at the ppb (parts-per-billion) level with more than 7,000 quality control points, and he proposed an annual inspection regime for operating storage stations. Sunwoda product director Cui Anbin, in the same survey, forecast the industry will evolve along safety, efficiency, marketization and globalization lines, with cell consistency and defect control raising entry barriers and weaker capacity exiting faster.
The practical takeaway for buyers: evaluate round-trip efficiency, auxiliary consumption, degradation curves, availability and warranty terms in one scorecard, not just price per kWh.
Upstream materials are seeing structural differentiation. Per the China Securities Journal survey (30 October 2026):
Company | Move | Scale |
Shanshan Co. | 2026 private placement, incl. Inner Mongolia anode base | up to 4 billion yuan, of which 2.5 billion yuan for a 150,000t anode base |
Keda Manufacturing | Graphite anode project | 4.5 billion yuan, 500,000t |
Keda's board secretary Peng Qi said the expansion rounds are justified by customer orders rather than blind capex, while BTR noted legacy graphite capacity is oversupplied but advanced anode capacity is running at full production. Easpring chairman Chen Yanbin argued only high-end products targeting storage and AIDC computing scenarios can win sustained volume growth.
For storage buyers: premium capacity is concentrating around top customers with long-term orders — supply stability and delivery capability belong in vendor scorecards.
At the INES2026 conference (29–30 October), Ma Dejun, chairman of the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association (battery association), said (Shanghai Securities News, 31 October 2026) that seven ministries issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for New-Type Battery Industry Development": a supply system led by lithium batteries with sodium-ion and flow batteries alongside; preliminary scale application of all-solid-state batteries by 2030; and 15,000-cycle long-life lithium cells. The parallel "15th Five-Year Plan for New-Type Power System Construction" targets 300 million kW (300GW) of new-type storage nationwide by 2030.
Ma also warned that with the EU Battery Regulation fully in force, carbon-footprint accounting, supply-chain due diligence and the digital battery passport have become rigid conditions of cross-border trade — compliance data must be built from the cell stage for Europe-bound products.
On demand, Lin Jiubiao said CATL holds a positive view on Q4 2026 and full-year 2027 global storage demand, supported by renewable build-out, electrification and growing computing loads. Deye's Q3 report (reported 29 October 2026) reflects the upswing: net profit for the first three quarters rose 82.03% YoY to 4.272 billion yuan, with Q3 net profit of 1.555 billion yuan up 88.50% YoY, driven by what the company described as significantly improved residential and C&I storage revenue.
1. Switch to lifetime-value metrics. Model round-trip efficiency, auxiliary consumption, annual degradation, availability and O&M cost together instead of comparing upfront price alone; require whole-station field data from suppliers.
2. Target compute-power coordination and direct green-power projects. Data centers and campus storage for local renewable consumption are becoming the second revenue pillar after peak-valley arbitrage.
3. Build export compliance early. Carbon footprint, due diligence and product traceability are rigid gates for Europe; building them early improves negotiating position.
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Q1: How much new-type energy storage is installed in China as of September 2026?
China's National Energy Administration reported on 30 October 2026 that operating new-type storage reached 167GW/435GWh by end-September, up 63% year on year, with an average storage duration of 2.61 hours and roughly 915 equivalent utilization hours.
Q2: What are "compute-power coordination" and "green-power direct connection"?
According to Tansuo Energy Storage (31 October 2026), compute-power coordination integrates the new-type power system with China's computing network; green-power direct connection is the key route — point-to-point supply from renewable plants to data centers, supporting low-carbon AI workloads and local renewable consumption.
Q3: How has the evaluation standard for storage plants changed in the TWh era?
The China Securities Journal survey (30 October 2026) reports the industry's focus has shifted from factory specifications to lifetime plant value — efficiency, degradation, availability and O&M cost jointly determine returns, and reliability verification now requires whole-station, full-condition field validation.
Q4: What is the storage demand outlook for 2026–2027?
CATL's Lin Jiubiao said in the China Securities Journal survey (30 October 2026) that the company holds a positive view on Q4 2026 and 2027 global demand; China's new-type power system plan targets 300GW of new-type storage by 2030 (Shanghai Securities News, 31 October 2026).
Q5: What should C&I storage companies do now?
Adopt lifetime-value metrics in procurement and bidding, position for compute-power coordination and direct green-power projects, and build EU Battery Regulation compliance capabilities — carbon footprint, due diligence and digital passport — early.
