China Huadian Launches 12 GWh Energy Storage Tender, Linked to SMM Lithium Prices

As a Fortune Global 500 enterprise and one of China's "Big Five" state-owned power generation groups, China Huadian Corporation serves as a critical bellwether for the national energy sector. Its procurement strategies and technical standards frequently set the benchmark for the entire industry's direction.

According to information obtained by SMM, on January 21, the tender announcement for China Huadian Corporation Ltd.'s 2026 LFP electrochemical energy storage system framework procurement was officially released. The estimated procurement volume for this framework reached 12 GWh, an increase of 6 GWh compared to the previous year. The procurement scope covers the supply and installation guidance of 0.5C and 0.25C LFP electrochemical energy storage systems (including batteries), explicitly requiring that the battery cell capacity be ≥314Ah, with an overall warranty period of 5 years.

Project Scale and Implementation Instructions
The tender project is divided into one section, with an estimated framework capacity of approximately 12 GWh. The announcement indicated that the actual procurement volume might be lower or higher than the estimated procurement scale (the upper limit not exceeding 20%), and the final volume would be determined based on the actual requirements of each project under the Huadian Group. The bid inviter reserves the right to exclude certain projects from this framework procurement and does not guarantee that the actual procurement specifications will be completely consistent with the tender scope.

Price Linkage Mechanism:
Notably, the procurement contract continues to adopt an authoritative market price linkage mechanism. According to the announcement, the price of the battery prefabricated cabin in the contract for shortlisted suppliers will be adjusted based on the price change amplitude of lithium carbonate (99.5% battery-grade) (Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate, Price of Other Minor Metals Per Ton Today, Minor Metals Prices Charts - Shanghai Metals Market (SMM)) published on the official website of SMM. This clause once again confirms the recognition of the SMM price benchmark by leading central state-owned enterprises in the industry. The announcement also stipulates that when market price fluctuations intensify, and the original price adjustment mechanism is deemed invalid by the bid inviter, the price adjustment will refer to the market tender prices of similar projects during the same period.

Qualification Threshold and Key Periods
This tender imposes strict performance requirements, mandating that bidders have, from January 1, 2024, to the present, at least one contract performance for LFP electrochemical energy storage system integrated equipment with a single project capacity of ≥200 MWh, or a cumulative capacity of no less than 2,000 MWh (single project ≥10 MWh).

Tender document acquisition period: January 21, 2026, to January 28, 2026.

Submission deadline / Tender opening time: 09:00 on February 11, 2026. Bid Opening Location: China Huadian Group E-commerce Platform (Electronic Bid Opening).

SMM possesses a scientific and comprehensive price assessment methodology, which is increasingly gaining market attention and recognition. SMM is committed to providing more transparent price information for upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain, not only increasing the efficiency of resource allocation but also enhancing market stability, effectively reducing transaction costs and market risks for enterprises.