China’s operational new-type energy storage capacity stood at 167 GW/435 GWh at the end of September 2026, up 63% from a year earlier, according to National Energy Administration (NEA) figures presented at its quarterly press conference on Oct. 30.
The category includes electrochemical, compressed-air and other emerging storage systems, but not conventional pumped hydro. At the end of 2025, capacity was 135.93 GW/351.12 GWh, implying a net addition of about 31 GW/84 GWh in the first nine months of 2026.
Utilization also improved. Average storage duration rose to 2.61 hours, about 0.27 hours more than a year earlier, while equivalent utilization hours reached roughly 915 hours in the nine-month period, up about 10 hours year on year. The NEA data suggest that China’s storage expansion is being accompanied by changes in system configuration and use, not merely a larger installed base.
Renewables drive flexibility demand
China’s combined wind and solar capacity exceeded 2.01 TW at the end of September, or about 48.7% of total installed power capacity. As variable renewable output grows, storage is increasingly used to absorb surplus electricity, move generation to higher-demand periods and provide fast-response grid services.
The NEA attributed the sector’s rapid development to government policies, technological innovation, industrial supply chains and rising demand for flexibility in the power system.
Market structure shifts toward independent projects
Official 2025 figures showed that independent storage facilities accounted for 51.2% of cumulative new-type installations. Projects rated at 100 MW or more made up 72% of installed capacity, while systems with durations of at least four hours accounted for 27.6%.
Lithium-ion batteries remained dominant, representing about 96% of installed new-type storage capacity. Compressed-air, flow batteries and other technologies are gradually expanding their presence.
Market reforms are expected to reinforce these trends. China has been developing arrangements that allow independent storage operators to earn revenue from electricity trading, ancillary services and capacity remuneration, reducing reliance on mandatory storage requirements tied to renewable projects.
Targets and grid experience
Under its 15th Five-Year Plan for power system development, China targets 300 GW of new-type storage by 2030, with greater emphasis on longer-duration systems, grid-forming capabilities and operational efficiency.
Storage’s contribution is already visible in renewable-rich regional grids. In western Inner Mongolia, the grid operator reported 20.23 GW/70.47 GWh of operational storage capacity in October. During emergency dispatch, storage supplied up to 12.25 GW, equivalent to 33% of the grid’s electricity demand at the time.
Such cases show how storage can provide short-term balancing capacity in systems with high renewable penetration. For other countries expanding wind and solar, China’s deployment offers experience in large-scale storage manufacturing, grid integration and centralized dispatch. China’s 2030 target and market reforms indicate that the next phase will place more weight on longer durations, grid-forming capability and operational efficiency.