New policy introduced in February 2025 requires wind and solar payment mechanisms to move toward more market-based structures, where 100% of wind and solar generation is to be traded in the wholesale market with local governments left to define their own implementation details by the end of the year.
[PDF Version]
Why is energy storage important?
Efficient, safe and low-cost energy storage technologies are essential as renewable energy increasingly powers the grid. The lithium-ion battery industry is driving the global clean energy transition but faces growing sustainability challenges.
Mainland China accounts for most of the global energy storage demand, driven in the near term by regional requirements for new utility-scale wind and solar projects to include energy storage capacity. However, the Chinese market is entering an era of change.
What drives energy storage project development?
Globally, energy storage project development is increasingly driven by the utility-scale segment, with mandates and targeted auctions driving gigawatt-hour projects in markets like China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Australia and Chile.
For energy storage, the new Chinese policy emphasized the need to remove energy storage as a prerequisite for renewable energy project grid connection, a requirement that has been a major driver for battery build. Nonetheless, BNEF still expects strong demand for batteries, as the policy doesn't explicitly require mandates to stop.
Energy Dome and Alliant Energy's 200MWh long-duration energy storage (LDES) project in Wisconsin, US, has been approved by state regulators. The Ministers of Energy and the Environment in Lithuania have approved an additional €37 million (US$43 million) for an energy storage capex grant scheme, while Trina Storage has secured orders in the country.
Centralized shared storage makes up 4.355 GW, or 91% of the total. Since 2023, Yunnan Province has signed 126 new energy storage projects with a combined investment exceeding RMB 130 billion, according to the Yunnan Provincial Investment Promotion Bureau.