Energy Storage Communication BESS Price Latest

PetroChina's procurement was split into four sections, 0.25C, 0.5C, and 0.5C grid-forming BESS and 1C energy storage systems. A C-rate is another way to describe discharge duration, by showing how much of a BESS' capacity is discharged each hour of full power output. So a 0.25C is a 4-hour system, a 1C is a 1-hour system.

Including all energy storage, its total installed capacity is now 137GW, meaning that 'new energy storage', mostly BESS, now exceeds its pumped hydro capacity. That is thanks to 43.7GW/109.8GWh of 'new energy storage' that was installed in 2024, CNESA said.

The cost of BESS has fallen significantly over the past decade, with more precipitous drops in recent years: This is nearly a 70% reduction in three years, owing to falling battery pack prices (now as low as $60-70/kWh in China), increased deployment, and improved efficiency.

A BESS project in China deployed by Hyperstrong, the largest system integrator in the domestic market. Image: Hyperstrong. China has reached well over 70GW of installed BESS capacity, while DC block prices appear to be 'stable', a local metals price agency said.

In January, CGN New Energy procured 4.5 GWh of grid-forming BESS and 6 GWh of grid-following BESS. In the first group, the bids averaged CNY 0.6067/Wh ($84/kWh), while in the second one the average was CNY 0.489/Wh ($67/kWh).

The procurement exercise has attracted 67 battery energy storage companies but only six have emerged as winners. The average bid stood at CNY 0.473/Wh ($65/kWh). Public procurements in China continue to demonstrate exceptionally low price levels for lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) battery energy storage systems (BESS).