Looking back at the global industrial competition pattern in the past decade, the policies of trade protection, energy blockade, and geopolitical confrontation implemented by the two U.S. administrations were originally intended to curb China’s high-end manufacturing overseas, but unexpectedly gave rise to the explosive growth of China’s energy storage industry.
From the first round of tariff barriers against China in 2018, to the implementation of a new round of global “reciprocal tariffs”, to tough sanctions on Iran and disruption of the Middle East energy supply chain, multiple external pressures have been layered on top of each other. Instead of suppressing China’s energy storage industry, it has forced the entire industry chain to complete technological independence, cost iteration, and diversified global market layout.
Today, the global energy storage market has formed a clear pattern: China’s energy storage equipment shipments account for half of the world. Among the top ten global energy storage shipment companies in 2025, Chinese companies will occupy seven of them; many countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Australia have concentrated on placing large long-term orders with leading domestic companies. The order schedule of leading manufacturers has been extended to 18 months, and production lines are operating at full capacity throughout the year.
Many overseas energy agencies bluntly stated that it was a series of extreme pressure policy combinations that accelerated countries around the world to get rid of single fossil energy dependence and accelerate the implementation of energy storage infrastructure. At the same time, it forced China’s energy storage to complete a full-chain closed loop, completely leaving behind competitors in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, and becoming an irreplaceable core supplier of global energy transformation.
The continuous pressure from multiple U.S. policies has objectively created an explosion of global energy storage demand.
During the two-term administration, two sets of core policies directly reshaped the logic of global energy supply and demand, created a huge gap in the energy storage market, and indirectly pushed up global orders for China’s energy storage equipment.
The first is the trade tariff barrier against China, which forces Chinese energy storage companies to abandon the single U.S. market and delve deeper into the global diversified markets. The second is the geopolitical blockade of energy in the Middle East. Sanctions on Iran disrupt international oil and gas supply, and countries are accelerating the deployment of energy storage to hedge against energy crises.
The resonance of the two major policies has opened up massive overseas demand space for China’s energy storage industry.
In 2018, the first round of tariff increases against China was implemented. Thousands of categories of Chinese electromechanical and new energy equipment were levied a high 25% tariff. Energy storage converters, lithium battery energy storage systems, and container energy storage power stations were all included in the tax list. Later, a 34% basic reciprocal tariff was introduced, and the comprehensive tax rate for complete sets of energy storage equipment was once close to 75%.
In the short term, tariffs directly increase the cost of Chinese energy storage products entering the U.S. market, and some small and medium-sized energy storage manufacturers exporting to North America have experienced short-term shrinkage in orders.
But in the long term, this policy has completely shattered the illusion of domestic companies relying on a single U.S. market. Before this, many energy storage companies used North America as their core growth pole, and all their R&D, production lines, and channels were tilted toward the U.S. market. After the tariffs were implemented, companies immediately adjusted their global strategies and invested resources on a large scale in markets such as the European Union, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, South America, Japan, and South Korea.
The European Union’s 2035 ban on fuel vehicles, the mandatory installation policy of renewable energy, the photovoltaic + energy storage infrastructure plans of various countries in the Middle East, the off-grid power supply needs of island countries in Southeast Asia, the Australian power grid expansion energy storage supporting projects, and Latin American wind power storage supporting projects. Incremental markets that have been ignored for a long time in the past have become the focus of domestic energy storage companies.
In just a few years, the structure of China’s energy storage export market has been completely restructured: the U.S. market share has dropped from a peak of 22% to less than 6%, and the combined share of Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia has exceeded 70%. The total number of global orders has not fallen but has risen, achieving exponential growth.
At the same time, the all-round blockade of Iran and the oil export ban strictly restrict the oil and gas transportation channels in the Strait of Hormuz, directly impacting the stable supply of global fossil energy, and causing major oil importing countries such as Europe, Japan, South Korea, and India to suffer from serious energy anxiety.
Countries have realized that the energy structure that relies solely on oil and gas imports is extremely fragile. Geographical conflicts can trigger skyrocketing oil prices and power shortages at any time. Only by vigorously developing photovoltaic and wind power supporting energy storage and building an independent and controllable local power supply system can geopolitical risks be hedged.
Energy storage systems are regarded as “energy dams” by various countries. They store electric energy during surplus periods of photovoltaic power generation and wind power generation, stabilize power supply during periods of energy shortage and soaring electricity prices, and significantly reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Many European countries have introduced hundreds of billions of energy storage subsidy policies. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are planning large-scale desert photovoltaic energy storage bases. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand have launched special plans for island energy storage power supply. The scale of global energy storage project bidding has doubled year by year.
Multiple barriers also force China’s energy storage industry to achieve technological independence and completely get rid of dependence on overseas parts and components.
Relevant restrictive policies attempt to cut off overseas supply channels for China’s upstream core components of energy storage. Under the crisis, the entire domestic energy storage industry chain has launched a process of intensive independent research and development: the domestic mining and recycling system for upstream lithium, phosphorus, and graphite minerals has taken shape, and the localization rate of electrolytes, separators, and cathode materials has exceeded 99%; midstream energy storage batteries, PCS energy storage converters, temperature control systems, and complete sets of container equipment have achieved full-process independent production; downstream large-scale energy storage power station design, operation and maintenance, and system integration technology have led the world.
A complete independent industrial chain brings two core advantages: First, manufacturing costs continue to decline, and the price of Chinese products for energy storage systems of the same capacity is 30%-50% lower than that of European and American manufacturers; second, the delivery cycle is controllable, and overseas companies frequently cut off the supply of parts and components. The domestic full-chain package can achieve complete set delivery within 30 days, and the delivery cycle of overseas competitive products generally exceeds 90 days.
The dual advantages of cost and delivery efficiency make China’s energy storage products extremely competitive in global tenders, and overseas orders continue to surge.
Multiple sets of authoritative data clearly confirm that China’s energy storage industry orders, shipments, and exports have continued to surge during the relevant policy cycles, and the industry’s growth rate far exceeds the global average during the same period.
In 2018, when the first round of tariffs was implemented, China’s exports of energy storage-related lithium batteries and complete sets of energy storage systems totaled approximately US$18.7 billion. By 2025, the annual export volume of lithium-ion batteries alone exceeded US$61.1 billion, of which energy storage batteries accounted for more than 45%. The export volume of energy storage complete sets of equipment, energy storage inverters, and temperature control supporting equipment simultaneously exceeded US$32 billion. The total export volume of all energy storage categories increased nearly four times compared with before the trade war.
In the first quarter of 2026, the scale of new global energy storage bidding increased by 62% year-on-year, and Chinese energy storage companies won 72% of the world’s winning orders.
Ningde Times alone has an energy storage business. In early June 2026, new orders reached 5.4 GWh, of which 3 GWh came from overseas customers in Europe and the Middle East. Overseas orders from leading energy storage companies such as BYD, Sungrow, Power Technology, and Goodwe all have been scheduled for more than 12 months. Some large energy storage container production lines implement two shifts and 24-hour non-stop production, which still cannot meet overseas delivery needs.
In terms of regional order structure: the European market is dominated by large-scale grid-side energy storage and household energy storage, with Germany, France, Italy, and Spain issuing hundreds of gigawatt-hour long-term framework agreements every year; the Middle East market focuses on large-scale Gobi projects
For photovoltaic energy storage integrated projects, the scale of single bidding orders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates generally exceeds 100 megawatts; Southeast Asia is dominated by household, industrial and commercial off-grid energy storage, and small scattered orders in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia continue to increase steadily; Australian power grid peaking energy storage and Latin American wind power supporting energy storage have become new growth tracks.
As of the end of 2025, the global market share of China’s energy storage products has exceeded 53%, of which energy storage converters account for 78% of the world, container energy storage systems account for 65%, and household energy storage batteries account for 71%.
The global energy storage company shipment list shows that among the top ten energy storage manufacturers in the world, Chinese companies occupy seven seats. The remaining three Japanese and Korean companies only focus on small-scale consumer energy storage. Large-scale grid energy storage and industrial and commercial energy storage have completely lost their competitiveness.
In contrast, local energy storage companies in the United States are limited by incomplete industrial chains and high production costs. Even with tariff protection, local production capacity can only meet less than 20% of domestic energy storage project demand. More than 80% of core energy storage equipment still needs to be imported from China. High tariffs are ultimately borne by local power companies and residential consumers in the United States, pushing up electricity prices across the United States and triggering widespread dissatisfaction among the public.
It is worth noting that global energy uncertainty has caused overseas energy companies to no longer only purchase short-term scattered energy storage equipment, but to sign long-term supply framework agreements with China’s leading energy storage companies for 5-10 years to lock in production capacity and purchase prices and avoid future risks of raw material and geopolitical policy fluctuations.
From 2024 to 2026, dozens of overseas energy giants such as Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, Europe’s largest power company RWE, Australian grid operators, and Vietnam’s National Electric Power Group signed long-term energy storage supply agreements with Sungrow, CATL, and BYD respectively. The scale of single agreement orders exceeded tens of gigawatt hours, locking in all energy storage equipment procurement shares in the next 5-10 years.
This type of long-term large-scale framework orders will completely consolidate the growth base of China’s energy storage industry in the next few years. Even if demand in a single market fluctuates, global diversified long-term orders are enough to support the continued expansion of the industry.
Industry analysis points out that relevant suppressive policies are only external catalysts. The fundamental core of China’s energy storage industry’s ability to seize opportunities and achieve a surge in global orders stems from the country’s long-term and complete industrial layout, continuous investment in technology research and development, and a complete manufacturing supporting system. It does not rely solely on external policy dividends.
Looking into the long term, the global energy transformation wave is irreversible. As the core equipment of the new power system, energy storage has a vast market space.
Relying on a complete industrial chain and continuous technological innovation, China’s energy storage industry will continue to accept large orders from various countries around the world, continue to lead the world in the green energy track, go global with high-end manufacturing, and build a more diversified, stable, and independent new global economic and trade pattern.
