H1 Energy Storage Bidding Surges by 150%, Central and State-Owned Enterprises Lead 170GWh Mega Orders

In the first half of this year, the bidding for energy storage projects continued to grow at a high rate.

Data shows that from January to June this year, the total publicly traceable bidding and procurement scale in the domestic energy storage market exceeded 170 GWh, a 1.5-fold increase compared to over 68 GWh in the same period last year. This includes energy storage systems, energy storage cells, and EPC general contracting with equipment.

From the perspective of the technical approachLithium iron phosphate (LFP) energy storage remains the mainstream technological route with the largest number and scale of projects. Its share of procurement demand exceeds 92%, especially as all major central and state-owned enterprise centralized procurement projects are targeted at lithium battery energy storage systems. In addition, hybrid energy storage accounts for a relatively high proportion, mainly in the form of technological combinations such as "LFP + flow battery/sodium-ion/flywheel, etc."

01. Central and state-owned enterprises lead energy storage tender demand, with CRRC Zhuzhou Institute, Xinyuan Zhichu, and HyperStrong ranking top three in awarded capacity.

In the first half of the year, among the more than 170 GWh of energy storage procurement orders, the total awarded capacity of central state-owned enterprise (SOE) energy storage projects reached 90 GWh, accounting for approximately 52%. State-owned enterprises (SOEs at the local level) announced over 40 GWh, nearly 24% of the total. Among them, China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) led with over 26 GWh in energy storage tendered capacity; China Power Construction Group, China National Nuclear Corporation, China Huadian Corporation, and China General Nuclear Power Group each secured more than 10 GWh in procurement and bidding scale.

Public information shows that among the procurement and bidding projects implemented in the first half of the year, a single projectThe largest one is the China Energy Engineering Group's 25GWh lithium iron phosphate battery energy storage system procurement project.Three bidding sections attracted a total of 70 companies to participate. The bid opening results show that for energy storage systems of 4 hours (10GWh), 2 hours (12GWh), and 1 hour (3GWh), the corresponding average bids are as follows:0.425 RMB/Wh, 0.465 RMB/Wh, 0.786 RMB/WhThe project has not yet announced the winning candidates.

Secondly, the project ranked second in scale and with the highest number of bidding companies isChina Power Construction 16GWh Energy Storage System Centralized ProcurementA total of 76 companies participated, with 27 companies shortlisted. The project requires the use of lithium iron phosphate battery cells with a nominal capacity of ≥280Ah. The bid prices of the shortlisted companies ranged from 0.442 RMB/Wh to 0.528 RMB/Wh, with an average price of0.469 RMB/WhThe shortlisted suppliers include TCC, Sungrow, Shuangdeng Group, CRRC Zhuzhou Institute, Chenergy, Phylion Battery, Envision Energy, REPT BATTERO, Trina Storage, Ganfeng Lithium, etc.

In addition, several large-scale procurement projects have been implemented, including China National Nuclear Huineng and Xinhua Hydropower's 12GWh energy storage system procurement, China General Nuclear Power New Energy's 10.5GWh energy storage system framework procurement, and China Huadian Corporation's 6GWh lithium iron phosphate energy storage system framework procurement.

It is worth mentioning thatThe single energy storage project with the largest bid amount.The 1GW/6GWh power-side energy storage project EPC tender in Chayouzhongqi, Ulanqab City (excluding collective procurement), with a total bid amount between 6.25 billion and 6.27 billion yuan.

From the bid opening resultsAccording to comprehensive data from various institutions, among lithium battery energy storage system suppliers,CRRC Zhuzhou InstituteRanked first with a total winning bid of 5.8 GWh.Xinyuan Zhichu, Haibo SichuangRanked second and third with winning bids of 3.5GWh and 3.3GWh, respectively, BYD, East Group, Nari Jibao, Ronghe Yuanchu, Kelu Electronics, and Sungrow all secured bids exceeding 1GWh. Additionally, it is reported that Sungrow has increased its investment in the domestic market since last year and has become the manufacturer with the most winning bids in large-scale procurement projects this year.

Price aspectIn the first half of this year, the winning bid price trend for energy storage systems showed a slower decline compared to last year, and the range of winning bid prices gradually narrowed.The average winning bid price for 2-hour energy storage systems is 0.558 yuan/Wh, down 27% year-on-year.It is worth mentioning that the average winning bid price steadily declined in the first five months, but showed a month-on-month rebound in June, which may be related to fewer samples and the inclusion of network construction-type energy storage projects.The average bid price for a 4-hour energy storage system is 0.448 yuan/Wh, a year-on-year decrease of 69%.

Among them, the lowest price for the energy storage system was reported by Shandong Electric Power Times in the 1GWh DC-side energy storage system procurement project of Xin Fengguang Electronics Technology Co., Ltd., adopting the lithium iron phosphate technology route.The unit price is 0.368 yuan/Wh.The lowest bid price for the 4-hour energy storage system appeared in Lot 4 of the 6 GWh lithium iron phosphate electrochemical energy storage system procurement project by Xinjiang Huadian, with Tebian Electric Apparatus winning the bid at...0.405 yuan/WhThe price is expected to win the bid.

The average price of energy storage cells in the first half of the year is 0.289 yuan/Wh.

Energy storage cellsThe latest data shows that the battery cell price range in the first half of this year is 0.26 RMB/Wh to 0.38 RMB/Wh, with an average price of0.289 RMB/Wh.

According to public reports, major energy storage cell centralized procurement/framework procurement projects mainly come from China Power Construction's 1GWh cell centralized procurement, China Storage Technology's 6GWh cell framework procurement, and New Sunshine's 1GWh energy storage cell centralized procurement. In addition, China Electric Equipment Group also announced a cell centralized procurement project with a scale of 7.248GWh in early June, with cell specifications including four types: 50Ah, 100Ah, 280Ah, and 314Ah.The procurement volume of 314Ah cells is 7.2GWh, accounting for 99.34% of the total cell procurement volume for the project.

In the New Fengguang 1GWh energy storage cell centralized procurement project, nine companies including Penghui Energy, EVE Energy, Sunwoda, CALB, Haichen Energy Storage, Lishen (Qingdao), CATL, Dejin New Energy, and Ruiyuan Electric have been shortlisted.The quoted price ranged from 0.26 RMB/Wh to 0.34 RMB/Wh, with an average quoted price of 0.279 RMB/Wh. Penghui Energy became the first winning candidate for this bidding project with the lowest quoted price of 0.26 RMB/Wh.

In the China Power Construction 1GWh cell centralized procurement project, two packages of 280Ah and 314Ah were procured with 500MWh each. The nine winning companies are Trina Storage, Lishen (Qingdao), Ganfeng Lithium, Ruipu Lanjun, Haichen Storage, Chneng New Energy, EVE Energy, Envision Power, and CALB.

The 8 shortlisted candidates for the 6GWh cell frame procurement project by Zhongchuang Technology, after deduplication, are EVE Energy, REPT Battero, Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery, CALB, Chenergy, Ganfeng Lithium, Envision AESC, and Desay Battery. The bid price range for the shortlisted companies is 0.27-0.38 yuan/Wh, with an average price of.0.276 yuan/Wh.

It is worth mentioning that, at present, the recent "rebound" in lithium carbonate prices, coupled with the fact that the energy storage business model is facing a true test of marketization, and with policies encouraging technological innovation and improvement of service quality to promote high-quality industry development, multiple factors are driving a reshaping of the energy storage market landscape. The price of energy storage cells is expected to break free from the "low-price trap" seen since last year and move toward a more stable price range.