[Energy Storage: Chuneng signs four deals as 20 Chinese storage firms eye South America]

India's Central Electricity Authority has published draft amendments to its technical standards requiring ground-mounted solar and onshore wind projects commissioned after July 1, 2027 to install co-located energy storage equal to at least 10% of installed capacity with a minimum two-hour duration, rising to four hours for projects commissioned from July 2029 through June 2031. The draft also mandates that at least 15% of inverters in renewable plants have grid-forming control, while all power conversion systems of battery storage must be grid-forming, with stakeholder comments open until October 4. More than 8,133 GWh of solar was curtailed in the first quarter of the fiscal year as the grid could not absorb daytime surplus, and the new rules aim to address mounting curtailment and grid stability concerns.

[SMM Analysis] Affected by tight copper foil supply and slower-than-expected capacity ramp-up for large-capacity battery cells, China and global energy storage battery cell production growth in September is expected to slow to 4.09% and 4.25% MoM, respectively, but this does not indicate weakening end-use demand. Supply-demand conditions for energy storage battery cells remain tight, with 314Ah battery cell prices holding steady. Shipments are expected to rise steadily going forward, with prices continuing their stable-to-higher trend.

At 18:00 on August 25, the No. 3 unit of SPIC Qinghai Provincial Investment's 3×660 MW "replacing small units with large ones" thermal power project successfully passed the 168-hour full-load trial operation, marking the full-capacity operation of the world's highest-altitude 660 MW ultra-supercritical thermal power unit with high-ratio high-alkali coal co-firing. After the project reaches full-capacity operation, its total installed capacity will reach 1,980 MW, with an average annual stable power generation of more than 8 billion kWh, fully covering the electricity demand of the entire Qinghai Province.