[Storage: South Africa to develop 184MW solar and 300MWh storage project]

LONGi's Suzhou base officially started production on Oct 9, covering containerized storage, C&I storage and control cabinets. Its grid-scale integration line will have 31GWh annualized capacity from October, expanding to 50GWh in 2027, plus over 10,000 C&I units per year by end-October. LONGi acquired control of Jingko Energy (about 62% voting rights) in Nov 2025; cumulative storage orders exceeded 3GWh in H1 2026, with a 6GWh shipment target for the full year.

[SMM Analysis] During the National Day holiday, energy storage projects in China and overseas continued to advance, and earlier orders still provide strong support for Q4 demand. After the holiday, market focus will further shift from orders and production schedules to delivery, grid connection, and operational fulfillment. The pace at which installations absorb earlier shipments deserves close attention.

[SMM Analysis] ESS battery cell prices edged down this week, tracking raw material fluctuations, but with supply-demand conditions remaining tight, room for a sharp price pullback is limited. China's ESS battery production rose 4.92% MoM in September, a slower pace than August, mainly due to the ramp-up progress of large-capacity cell production lines and supply disruptions for some upstream raw materials. Entering Q4, as large-cell production lines continue to ramp up, production efficiency improves, and raw material supply disruptions gradually ease, the industry's production schedule growth is expected to rebound. Current enterprise production plans already reflect a trend of gradually accelerating growth in October-November, and overall production activity for ESS battery cells remains at a relatively high level.