First Decline Recorded: New Energy Storage Installations Drop to 5.03GW/11.79GWh in Q1 2025

First Decline! In the first quarter of 2025, the newly installed capacity of new energy storage reached 5.03 GW / 11.79 GWh, a year-on-year decrease of -1.5% / -5.5%. According to incomplete statistics from the CNESA DataLink global energy storage database, the newly operational new energy storage projects included 4.46 GW / 10.57 GWh on the grid side, with a year-on-year decrease of -0.2% / -4.4%, and 575 MW / 1124 MWh on the user side, reflecting a year-on-year decrease of -10.9% / -11.6%.

From January to March 2025, the following characteristics were noted in the newly operational energy storage projects:

• Energy storage projects were launched across 24 provinces, with Hebei leading in scale.
• Regionally, the new projects were primarily distributed across provinces such as Hebei, Shandong, Ningxia, Xinjiang, and Yunnan, with 14 provinces adding more than 100 MW of new capacity.
• In Hebei, several independent energy storage projects exceeded 100 MW in scale, including the independent energy storage station in Zhangjiakou, achieving a total new operation scale of over 1 million kW with an average storage duration of 3.2 hours, leading both power and energy scales nationally.

Figure 1: Newly installed capacity of new energy storage projects in China from January to March 2025 (Source: CNESA DataLink global energy storage database). Note: Year-on-year comparisons are based on the same period last year; month-on-month comparisons are with the previous reporting period.

In the first quarter, over 50% of the new installed capacity came from independent energy storage. On the application side, the grid-side power scale accounted for 52%, an increase of 17 percentage points year-on-year, with a new installed capacity of 2.63 GW / 6.48 GWh, representing a year-on-year increase of 46% / 68%. A total of 21 independent energy storage projects were operational, with 17 of these projects exceeding 100 MW, mainly distributed across provinces like Hebei, Ningxia, Yunnan, Shandong, and Guizhou.

On the power side, the new installed capacity was 1.83 GW / 4.09 GWh, showing a 31% decline in power scale year-on-year, and a 16 percentage point decrease in proportion compared to the same period last year. This capacity was all from renewable energy projects distributed across 15 provinces, with Shandong contributing 42% of the new power scale.

On the user side, the new installed capacity reached 575 MW / 1124 MWh, with an 11% decline in power scale compared to the same period last year. This capacity was spread across 13 provinces, including Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hebei, and Guangdong. The commercial and industrial energy storage segment remains dominant, particularly in regions such as East, Central, North, and South China, with East China accounting for over 50% of the installed capacity for commercial users.

From a technological perspective, the operational projects primarily utilized electrochemical energy storage technology, with lithium battery projects making up 98% of the new installations, predominantly using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology. Various hybrid energy storage applications were also observed, such as lithium iron phosphate batteries combined with vanadium flow batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and flywheels. The first hybrid network-type energy storage project in the country, the Guoneng Ningdong New Energy Hybrid Energy Storage Demonstration Station, was commissioned, employing lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and supercapacitor technologies.

Figure 4: Distribution of newly operational new energy storage projects by technology in the first quarter of 2025 (MW%). (Source: CNESA DataLink global energy storage database).

Some notable newly operational energy storage projects in the first quarter include:

• Large-scale storage projects: The largest standalone grid-side energy storage project in the country, located in Hebei’s Zhangjiakou region, features a construction scale of 300 MW / 1200 MWh using lithium-ion batteries.
• Hybrid independent storage projects: The Guoneng Ningdong New Energy Hybrid Energy Storage Demonstration Station, with a construction scale of 10 MW / 20 MW for lithium-ion batteries, 1 MW / 5 min for supercapacitors, and 200 kW / 400 kWh for sodium-ion batteries.
• Sodium-ion battery projects: The first network-type energy storage demonstration project in the country, featuring a 40 MW / 40 MWh sodium-ion battery storage capacity, filling a gap in the industry for sodium battery storage technology.

As of the end of March 2025, the National Energy Group had 132 new energy storage projects in operation, totaling 4934 MW / 10956 MWh, with various technical routes including electrochemical, flywheel, molten salt thermal storage, and hybrid storage.

For more insights into the evolving landscape of energy storage projects and the technological advancements occurring within the industry, stay tuned for further updates.