China's operational new-type energy storage capacity reached 167 GW/435 GWh at the end of September 2026, 63% higher than a year earlier, according to figures the National Energy Administration (NEA) released on October 30.
The NEA presented the data at its quarterly press conference on national energy developments. The new-type category covers electrochemical, compressed-air and other emerging storage systems but excludes conventional pumped hydro.
Measured against 135.93 GW/351.12 GWh at the end of 2025, the September total represents a net addition of roughly 31 GW/84 GWh during the first nine months of 2026.
Longer duration, higher utilization
Average storage duration rose to 2.61 hours, about 0.27 hours more than a year earlier. Equivalent utilization hours reached around 915 over the nine-month period, some 10 hours above the same stretch of 2025. Taken together, the two indicators suggest that expansion is being accompanied by gradual changes in how systems are configured and dispatched, rather than growth in installed capacity alone.
According to the agency, government policy, technological innovation, industrial supply chains and rising demand for flexibility in the power system have supported the rapid build-out.
Renewables raise the need for flexibility
China's combined wind and solar generating capacity exceeded 2.01 TW at the end of September, accounting for approximately 48.7% of total installed power capacity. As variable renewable output grows, storage is increasingly required to absorb surplus electricity, shift generation to higher-demand periods and provide fast-response grid services.
Market structure is shifting
Official figures for 2025 showed independent storage facilities accounting for 51.2% of cumulative new-type installations. Projects rated at 100 MW or above made up 72% of installed capacity, while systems with durations of at least four hours represented 27.6%. Lithium-ion batteries remained dominant at about 96% of installed new-type capacity, although compressed-air, flow batteries and other technologies are gradually widening 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 attached to renewable projects.
Under the 15th Five-Year Plan for power system development, new-type storage capacity is targeted to reach 300 GW by 2030, with greater emphasis on longer-duration systems, grid-forming capability and operational efficiency.
Regional grids show the contribution
The effect 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 operations, storage supplied up to 12.25 GW, equal to 33% of the grid's electricity demand at that moment.
Such cases indicate how storage can provide substantial short-term balancing capacity in systems with high renewable penetration. They also suggest that China's deployment offers experience in large-scale storage manufacturing, grid integration and centralized dispatch for other countries expanding wind and solar generation.