Longi Green Energy's approach to its energy storage business will not involve a rush to expand scale from the outset, with the core focus instead being on developing standout products.
This was stated by She Haifeng, Vice President of Longi Green Energy Technology Co.,Ltd. (SH: 601012) and head of its energy storage unit, during the recent SNEC exhibition, the world's largest solar and storage event. He emphasized that the company's strategy for its storage operations differs from that of earlier entrants in the solar sector, aiming to avoid repeating the cycle of homogenized, cutthroat competition seen in photovoltaics.
Longi's entry into energy storage came relatively late. Unlike companies such as Sungrow Power Supply, Trina Solar, and Jinko Solar, which built capabilities through gradual internal development, Longi entered via external acquisition. It completed the integration and control of Suzhou Jingkong Energy in December 2025. According to InfoLink's statistics for the first half of 2025, the acquired company ranked fifth globally among energy storage system integrators on the DC side. Data from the same agency shows that Longi's photovoltaic module shipments last year were tied with Jinko Solar for the top global position.
In the past, solar and storage operated independently, with early storage deployments focused more on the grid side, She Haifeng noted. He explained that Longi's focus after entering the market has been on how to better couple solar and storage, improve integrated system efficiency, and create unified power plants where the solar and storage components share the same lifespan. The customer profile in the global storage market now includes many from the solar sector: old solar plants need storage to extend their life, and new solar plants inevitably include storage, as pure solar projects are no longer sufficiently competitive. However, when solar and storage become a unified power source, customers face systems pieced together from four or five different manufacturers for storage BMS, PCS, EMS, TMS, and the solar system itself. This not only amplifies safety risks but also makes coordinated control a significant challenge. The rationale behind Longi's 'full-stack' approach is to put an end to this patchwork system model.
She Haifeng acknowledged that after Longi announced its solar-plus-storage strategy last April, there were external doubts labeling it as mere 'PPT strategy' and 'PPT products.' However, he stated that Longi's entire family of energy storage products has now taken shape. New products for utility-scale storage, commercial & industrial storage, and off-grid/microgrid applications will be launched at the Intersolar Europe exhibition in Germany later this month. The utility-scale storage products are scheduled for a full market launch in the first quarter of next year. For a latecomer, the residential storage segment, while offering potential for rapid volume growth, has been deliberately avoided by Longi given the current competitive landscape in that space.
Similarly, the company has explicitly ruled out manufacturing battery cells in-house. She Haifeng expressed the view that battery cells are highly standardized electrochemical products, and there are already ample choices available on the market. At least for the current generation of lithium iron phosphate technology, Longi will not venture into cell manufacturing.
Longi's Chairman, Zhong Baoshen, stated during the late April earnings conference that the company aims to grow its energy storage business to a scale comparable to its solar business within five years. This implies that Longi must develop its storage operations to a similar level while its core photovoltaic business recovers from losses.
Despite Longi's confidence in its storage business avoiding the old script of frenzied, internal competition seen in solar, a familiar trend was palpable at this year's SNEC: solar-plus-storage integration has become the lifeline that all solar companies are trying to grasp during the industry's downturn.
It seems like those doing storage aren't doing solar, and all those doing solar are now doing storage. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, remarked Shi Zhengrong, former China's richest man due to his role at Suntech Power, issuing a warning during SNEC. The solar industry has already realized that having the largest volume isn't necessarily best, and being the market leader isn't necessarily heroic. But can the mindset broaden further to collaborate with storage companies? At least that way, storage capacity wouldn't explode again.
When asked about the key differentiators of Longi's integrated solar-plus-storage products compared to peers, She Haifeng responded that the core distinction still lies in the storage products themselves. Most photovoltaic companies that have entered the market move some product volume through their existing customer base. Longi is not very inclined to do that. That's why I've been holding back the sales pace from the beginning, insisting that the product must be refined and mature first, and be truly competitive upon launch.
She Haifeng's assessment is that the current solar cycle downturn will persist for another 12 to 18 months, with a return to positive year-on-year growth in new solar installations expected in the second half of 2027. When combined with storage, the demand ceiling for photovoltaics will be reopened. The interplay between the two, where one's weakness is the other's strength, will likely take at least another 12 months to stabilize. However, Longi is expected to emerge from the downturn ahead of others, with a significant improvement in its operating situation anticipated in the third quarter.
Comments