China's new-type energy storage industry turns market-driven

China's new-type energy storage industry is accelerating into a market-driven phase in 2026, characterized by a larger domestic market and value-oriented overseas expansion, according to the Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The shift is marked by significant changes in China's market scale and structure. By the end of June 2026, China's cumulative installed new-type energy storage capacity had exceeded 153 million kilowatts, a 50-fold increase from the early phase of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2020-2025). Independent energy storage has dominated the incremental market, with large-scale and long-duration projects accounting for a growing share.

"China's new-type energy storage installed capacity and application scale continue to expand, and both the market structure and global supply landscape are accelerating to optimize. Relying on China's complete industrial chain, cost advantages, and technological iteration capabilities, the global supply landscape is increasingly concentrating toward Chinese enterprises," said Wang Jianbin, a senior engineer at the center.

New-type energy storage has also evolved from a supporting role tied to renewable energy projects into an independent electricity market entity capable of participating in energy trading on its own. Tailored to local conditions, multiple provinces have introduced detailed regulations for market-oriented operations of new-type energy storage entities since the start of this year, providing institutional support.

Competition in the industry is also shifting from price wars to value competition. Overseas expansion in China's new-type energy storage industry is shifting from simple product exports to deeper localized operations, including overseas manufacturing, compliant business practices, and green supply chain development.

The United States plans to release up to 17 million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to the market through an exchange mechanism, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Friday.

The release is part of a global oil stockpile agreement that the United States reached in March with about 30 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to ease the impact of the Iran conflict on fuel prices. Under the deal, the U.S. agreed to lend 172 million barrels of crude oil from its SPR, with the parties planning to collectively release 400 million barrels of strategic reserves.

The exchange functions as a loan, requiring companies that receive the oil to return the borrowed barrels to the reserve along with an additional amount of crude.