International Renewable Energy Agency head urges global cooperation in energy storage

A senior International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) official has urged global cooperation in energy storage to promote an inclusive, equitable energy transition.

Ilina Stefanova, head of the IRENA Coalition for Action, made the call during the 2026 World Energy Storage Conference held in Ningde, east China's Fujian Province from Oct 14-16. In a sideline interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), she shared her observations on the profound changes reshaping the industry.

"Now with the growth of energy storage, we've seen figures today showing rapid expansion. I think that it's no longer a matter of capacity added to the grid, but also making sure that this capacity is properly integrated and supports the growth of renewable energy," Stefanova said.

As the energy storage industry becomes more internationalized and market compliance requirements grow, Stefanova said the IRENA Coalition for Action is pursuing better cross-border alignment and wider application to promote global energy transition. She noted that China's mass production capacity and technology have significantly lowered energy storage costs.

"From the coalition's perspective, one is the sharing of experience and evidence, improving alignment across technical standards and interoperability, but also strengthening the capacity of the market to absorb more renewable energy but also more storage capacity. And I think that for China, specifically, energy storage industry has contributed significantly to technology progress, manufacturing at scale, and declining costs. We heard today that for the last 15 years, the costs of battery storage dropped down by 95 percent. It's incredibly good news," she said.

With a growingly integrated global energy landscape, Stefanova stressed that international collaboration is vital to enable energy transition with equality and inclusiveness.

"Energy transition cannot be achieved by one country in isolation. Many countries are trying to integrate storage solutions, and we can learn from each other's experience. China and international partners can contribute to the growth through technical dialogue, joint learning, and capacity building. The objective should be to reduce unnecessary fragmentation of the markets, but also make sure we respect each national system, the conditions, and policy priorities," she said.

International Renewable Energy Agency head urges global cooperation in energy storage

The China International Import Expo (CIIE) offers foreign companies a key trade platform to showcase their products and expand sales in China, a business leader has said, noting that many Portuguese companies are keen to participate again this year. In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Bernardo Mendia, secretary-general of the Portugal-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the chamber promotes the CIIE widely in Portugal through its online platforms and at physical events held every year. "I'm aware that many Portuguese companies will participate. We as China-Portugal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we promote widely in Portugal through all our online platforms. We also organize every year, we try to organize or at least participate in a physical event in Portugal to promote China International Import Fair. And the AICEP, which is the Portuguese investment agency, every year they organize a group of Portuguese companies and they themselves are present there with their own booth," Mendia said.

"I believe this year will not be an exception, and so they will participate again. It's a quite relevant participation. We understand that this has a lot of interest for our companies, because it's a trade exhibition that is for foreign entities to showcase their products and make sales in China. So it's precisely what we need to do more, so it's perfect. And we are very happy that China is still continuing to organize and put so much importance in this exhibition in Shanghai," he said.

The ninth CIIE will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. Launched in 2018 as the world's first national-level expo dedicated to imports, the CIIE was designed to expand China's opening-up and turn its vast market into a shared opportunity for the world.

China's import expo offers foreign companies key platform to showcase products: chamber head