China's operational new-type energy storage fleet reached 167 GW/435 GWh at the end of September 2026, 63% higher than a year earlier, according to National Energy Administration (NEA) figures. The category includes electrochemical, compressed-air and other emerging systems, but not conventional pumped hydro.
The total compares with 135.93 GW/351.12 GWh at the end of 2025, implying a net addition of about 31 GW/84 GWh in the first nine months of 2026. The NEA presented the data at a quarterly press conference on energy development.
Utilization also improved. Average duration rose to 2.61 hours, about 0.27 hours more than a year earlier, while equivalent utilization reached roughly 915 hours in the nine-month period, an increase of about 10 hours from the same period in 2025.
Those figures suggest that China's storage build-out is beginning to be accompanied by changes in system configuration and use, rather than consisting only of installed-capacity growth. The NEA attributed the expansion to government policy, technology innovation, industrial supply chains and rising demand for flexibility in the power system.
Renewables increase the need for flexibility
Wind and solar capacity in China exceeded 2.01 TW at the end of September, about 48.7% of total installed power capacity. As variable renewable output grows, storage is needed to absorb surplus electricity, move generation to periods of higher demand and provide fast-response grid services.
The market's structure is shifting as well. Official 2025 figures showed that independent storage facilities made up 51.2% of cumulative new-type installations. Projects of 100 MW or more accounted for 72% of installed capacity, and systems lasting at least four hours represented 27.6%.
Lithium-ion batteries still dominated with about 96% of installed new-type storage capacity. Compressed-air, flow batteries and other technologies are gradually gaining a presence.
Market reforms and the 2030 target
China is developing market arrangements that allow independent storage operators to earn revenue from electricity trading, ancillary services and capacity payments. Such reforms are expected to reinforce the move toward larger, longer-duration and independently operated facilities.
Under its 15th Five-Year Plan for power system development, China targets 300 GW of new-type storage by 2030, with more emphasis on longer-duration systems, grid-forming capabilities and operational efficiency. The plan sets a goal, not a completed build-out.
Storage's contribution is already visible in renewable-heavy regional grids. In western Inner Mongolia, the grid operator reported 20.23 GW/70.47 GWh of operational storage in October. During emergency dispatch, storage supplied as much as 12.25 GW, equal to 33% of the grid's electricity demand at that moment.
Such cases show how storage can provide substantial short-term balancing capacity in systems with high renewable penetration. For other countries expanding wind and solar, China's deployment offers experience in large-scale storage manufacturing, grid integration and centralized dispatch.