Chinese Companies Are Dominating Overseas! ESS Breaks Records in South Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia...

Against the backdrop of an accelerated transformation in the global energy landscape, the energy storage market, as a key link in promoting large-scale renewable energy applications and ensuring the stable operation of power systems, is expected to have immense growth potential in the future.

Meanwhile, competition in the international energy storage market is becoming increasingly intense, making it a focal area for enterprises worldwide. Amid this fierce competition, Chinese companies have made a strong impression in overseas energy storage markets with their outstanding performance and robust capabilities, creating a powerful "Chinese wave."

Battery Network has observed that recently, from the African continent to Europe and emerging economies in Southeast Asia, Chinese enterprises have been making significant strides, securing numerous project orders. Behind these achievements lies years of meticulous efforts in technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and international strategic planning.

On December 16, Envision Energy announced that it had signed a supply contract with Électricité de France (EDF) to provide battery energy storage systems for three standalone energy storage projects in South Africa led by EDF. The total installed capacity of the projects is 257MW/1028MWh, marking South Africa's first GWh-level energy storage order. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, with Envision Energy supplying a full set of AC and DC energy storage equipment and providing 15 years of full life cycle operation and maintenance services, utilizing its independently developed energy storage-specific battery cells.

On December 6, Sungrow signed a cooperation agreement with Citicore Renewable Energy Corporation (CREC), a listed company in the Philippines, to provide a 1.5GWh energy storage system and engineering support services. This represents the largest energy storage system order in Southeast Asia to date.

On December 5, Huawei announced a 4.5GWh energy storage project agreement with SP New Energy Corporation (SPNEC) in the Philippines. The project, with a total investment of 200 billion pesos (approximately 25.12 billion yuan), includes 3.5GW of PV and 4.5GWh of energy storage, making it one of the largest PV ESS projects globally.

On November 18, Sungrow also signed a 4.4GWh energy storage cooperation agreement with the UK-based Fidra Energy. The agreement covers two benchmark standalone energy storage stations in the UK: the 3.3GWh Thorpe Marsh and the 1.1GWh West Burton C. The project will deploy 880 sets of Sungrow's PowerTitan 2.0 liquid-cooled energy storage systems, which, upon operation, can supply power to 1.1 million UK households, setting a new record for the largest energy storage station order in Europe.

On November 13, Chunsun New Energy signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Italy's Cestari in Wuhan, Hubei. The two parties plan to establish a PV ESS pilot project in Italy in the short term, utilizing Chunsun's self-developed 20-foot 5MWh battery prefabricated cabin CORNEX M5. Over the next 3 to 5 years, they aim to achieve 20GWh-30GWh of energy storage project cooperation.

On November 6, REPT signed a strategic cooperation agreement with JUNGWOO Group Co., Ltd. According to the agreement, during the effective period of the cooperation, the first party commits to purchasing no less than 5GWh of energy storage system products and 2GWh of energy storage battery cell products from the second party in 2025, with the option to increase orders.

On October 23, Sunwoda signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Gryphon Energy Pty Ltd. The project, located in Queensland, Australia, has a capacity of 1.6GWh, making it one of the largest energy storage projects in Australia. It is scheduled for delivery and grid connection in 2026.

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REPT's chairman visited the Waratah Super Battery Site in Australia, the largest energy storage project in the Southern Hemisphere, where REPT serves as the core battery supplier. Photo/REPT

In recent years, leveraging a complete energy storage industry chain, large-scale production, and continuously optimized manufacturing processes, Chinese energy storage enterprises have not only met overseas clients' requirements for efficient and stable operation of energy storage systems but also offered price advantages over local products, frequently securing large energy storage orders.

Integrated energy storage enterprises like Huawei and Sungrow have demonstrated even greater momentum in going global. Compared to battery manufacturers, these integrators can provide comprehensive one-stop solutions, optimizing system design, control strategies, and operation and maintenance management to deliver efficient and reliable energy storage systems, standing out in market competition.

Of course, it is worth noting that competition in the overseas energy storage market has become increasingly fierce. The overseas market is by no means a "safe haven" without challenges; in fact, it is a new "battlefield" full of uncertainties and difficulties.

From a positive perspective, the high-profit margins in overseas markets indeed offer domestic enterprises vast development opportunities. Companies can fully leverage their long-accumulated technological advantages and cost-control experience in the domestic market to achieve higher profits abroad. These funds can be continuously reinvested into critical areas such as R&D and product upgrades, helping enterprises secure a more advantageous position in the future global energy storage market.

However, in the journey of expanding into overseas markets, domestic enterprises also face a series of complex challenges. These include stringent market entry barriers and varying standards and certification requirements set by different countries and regions based on their energy strategies, safety standards, and industrial development plans, especially in mature markets like Europe and the US.

Moreover, while overseas markets are generally perceived to have higher gross margins, the actual costs of going global often exceed expectations.

Overseas clients have extremely high demands for the quality and reliability of energy storage products. Enterprises must continuously improve product quality and reliability, strengthen quality control and testing, and ensure the long-term stable operation of energy storage systems. This requires significant investments in human, material, and time resources to provide operation and maintenance services, posing higher demands on enterprises' technical and service capabilities.

As a result, industry insiders have called for caution, emphasizing that the overseas energy storage market is not suitable for price wars. Hidden costs and penalties cannot be ignored, and Chinese enterprises should unite and avoid excessive low-price competition.

The large-scale shift of domestic energy storage enterprises' focus to overseas markets is also driven by the intense cut-throat competition in the domestic energy storage market.

Public data shows that in the energy storage sector, the price of LFP energy storage battery cells has dropped from 0.9 yuan/Wh–1.0 yuan/Wh at the beginning of 2023 to the current 0.3 yuan/Wh–0.4 yuan/Wh. The average unit price of energy storage systems has fallen from around 1.5 yuan/Wh to 0.5 yuan/Wh–0.6 yuan/Wh, with some energy storage systems being awarded at prices below 0.5 yuan/Wh.

Recently, China Resources Power (836) held a bidding process for energy storage equipment procurement for the Xinjiang Tianshan North Slope New Energy Base Project. The lowest bid for a 4-hour energy storage system was 0.398 yuan/Wh, marking a historic low as it fell below 0.4 yuan/Wh for the first time.

"Rather than being caught in the cut-throat competition domestically, why not test the waters overseas?" This sentiment has become a true reflection of many energy storage enterprises.

This year, the domestic energy storage industry has experienced mixed results. While installation volumes have reached record highs, the ongoing price war has led many energy storage enterprises to see revenue growth without profit growth. Battery Network has observed that since November, several state-owned enterprises have successively launched centralized procurement for energy storage systems (battery cell frameworks) for 2025. Judging from the scale of centralized procurement, the energy storage market in 2025 is expected to remain robust, with bidding enterprises introducing new requirements for bidding rules, such as reducing the weight of price evaluation and increasing the weight of technical evaluation.

Currently, some bidding enterprises have explicitly stated that they will not accept inventory batteries or cascade utilization batteries. At the same time, they have introduced new standards for bidders' performance and technical requirements, including battery cell performance requirements, further curbing the potential for low-quality small producers to disrupt the market.

From an industry perspective, the rising thresholds for energy storage bidding can effectively address the issue of malicious price wars, screen enterprises based on their technical capabilities, and ensure the reliability of energy storage system operations. On the other hand, it can also accelerate the market exit of weaker players, promoting the healthy and sustainable development of the energy storage industry.