Orient Securities Company Limited has released a research report stating that, overall, the year-on-year growth rate for energy storage in June showed a slight deceleration. The primary reason attributed to this is the rapid increase in system operation fees. According to data from Dianlian Xinmei, in the first quarter of 2026, system operation fees exhibited characteristics of a "sharp overall increase, structural differentiation, and full visibility." The proportion of system operation fees for national industrial and commercial users surged from 8% to over 15%, exceeding 25% in some regions. It is projected that the period from 2026 to 2030 will be a phase of rapid growth, with an estimated average annual increase of 20% to 30%. Based on analysis from the State Power Investment Corporation's Economic Research Institute, after paying system operation fees, the price arbitrage revenue for grid-side energy storage has significantly declined, and the increased capacity compensation revenue is insufficient to offset the loss.
The firm believes that system operation fees act as a regulatory valve that may influence the pace of installations but do not affect the total demand. As market revenue imbalances become increasingly prominent, subsequent issues regarding the revenue structure are expected to be resolved. The firm maintains a positive outlook on the full-year demand for energy storage and the ramp-up pace in the second half of the year. The key points from Orient Securities Company Limited are as follows:
Event Overview
According to CESA, in June 2026, China added 77 new grid-connected projects for new-type energy storage, with a total installed capacity of 4.22GW/11.02GWh. This represents a year-on-year increase of 0.72%/9.98% and a month-on-month increase of 41.6%/53.5%.
Northwest Region Leads in Capacity; Gansu, Guangdong, and Hebei Account for Nearly 40%
From a regional distribution perspective, the Northwest region added the largest installed capacity in June, at 0.99GW/2.68GWh. Its power share was 23.4%, ranking third, while its capacity share was 24.3%, ranking first. Projects within the region were distributed across the four provinces of Gansu, Xinjiang, Ningxia, and Qinghai, primarily consisting of large-scale independent energy storage and generation-side paired storage. At the provincial level, Gansu's newly added capacity in June totaled 0.47GW/1.64GWh, accounting for 14.88% of the national total and ranking first nationwide.
Grid-Side Accounts for About 60%; Multiple New Technologies Deployed
In terms of application scenarios, grid-side independent/shared energy storage saw 28 new grid-connected projects, with an installed capacity of approximately 2.74GW/6.85GWh. This represents a power share of 64.8% and a capacity share of 62.2%, ranking first in both categories.
Private Enterprises Contribute Over 40%; Rise of Third-Party Integrators
Looking at project owners, private enterprises and third-party energy storage integrators accounted for the largest power share among June's grid-connected projects at 41.6%. This reflects the highly marketized nature of the independent energy storage station investment and operation market. Among them, Yichu Energy had the largest operational scale, reaching 500MW/1GWh. Hyposolar's operational scale also reached the GWh level, at 250MW/1GWh. Longking Environmental Protection deployed 215MW/860MWh. Kaibo Capital, the energy investment platform under CALB, commissioned two projects with a combined scale of 200MW/600MWh. Local state-owned enterprises ranked second with a 21.9% power share, while the "Big Five, Small Six" central energy enterprises ranked third with an 18.9% power share.
Risk Warning
Domestic energy storage installations may fall short of expectations.
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