# Storage — the absorption answer Storage is the mechanism the grid adds to close the gap between what China installs (wind + solar ~48% of the fleet) and what it can generate (~25%). This page covers two different things from two different sources: - **New-type storage** (mostly lithium-ion batteries) already installed and how hard it is working: NEA and Ember figures, curated and cited. - **Pumped-storage hydro** still in the project pipeline: Global Energy Monitor's tracker. In GEM's China export, "Storage" means pumped-storage hydro only. GEM files reservoir dams as hydro "conventional storage", which ChinaQueue counts as Hydro, and the export has no battery projects. ## Installed, and finally being used (curated · sourced) | Measure | Value | Period | Publisher | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | New-type storage in operation | **153 GW / 396 GWh, +61% y/y** | end-June 2026 | NEA | | New-type storage in operation | 136 GW / 351 GWh (+84% vs end-2024) | end-2025 | NEA | | New-type storage in operation | 94.91 GW / 222 GWh | end-June 2025 | NEA | | Equivalent full-power hours | 611 h → 911 h → **1,195 h** | 2023 → 2024 → 2025 | NEA | | Standalone battery cycles per year | 146 → **299** | 2022 → 2025 | Ember (CEC data) | | Co-located battery cycles per year | ~80 → **199** | 2022 → 2025 | Ember (CEC data) | | Benchmark | 350 cycles per year (about one per operating day) | — | Ember | - About **17 GW** was added in H1 2026 (ChinaQueue's difference between NEA's end-2025 and end-June 2026 totals); average duration is about 2.6 h (GWh ÷ GW). - **Scope:** NEA's "new-type storage" excludes pumped hydro. At end-2025 it was 96.1% lithium-ion by capacity; compressed air, flow batteries and flywheels made up 3.9%. - Sources (all confidence: verified): - NEA press-conference transcript, 30 July 2026 (end-June 2026 capacity; 2023–2025 hours): https://www.nea.gov.cn/20260730/3ce671c387574eeeb120fc3825be0399/c.html - NEA press conference on new-type storage in 2025, 30 January 2026 (end-2025 capacity, technology mix): https://www.nea.gov.cn/20260130/50f657ce87f848e1a9a1861d1fd9aa23/c.html - NEA Q3 2025 press-conference transcript, 31 July 2025 (end-June 2025 capacity): https://www.nea.gov.cn/20250731/83ffa46373ec42dd99e0e3271028c151/c.html - Ember, "From scale to system: navigating the next phase of China's battery storage", 16 July 2026 (cycles, compiled from China Electricity Council statistics; benchmark): https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/from-scale-to-system-navigating-the-next-phase-of-chinas-battery-storage/ ## Pumped-storage pipeline (GEM, snapshot 2026-10-14) **348 active units · 451.2 GW** of pumped-storage hydro in construction, pre-construction or announced (GEM Global Integrated Power Tracker, ArcGIS layer updated 2026-02-18; pulled 2026-10-14). | Status | Units | GW | | --- | --- | --- | | Pre-construction | 152 | 197.7 | | Construction | 123 | 163.1 | | Announced | 73 | 90.4 | Only 93 units (26.7%) carry an expected commercial-operation year, so the dated profile is a lower bound, not a forecast. The dated units peak in **2029–2030**: | Year | GW | Units | | --- | --- | --- | | 2026 | 7.1 | 7 | | 2027 | 18.6 | 15 | | 2028 | 23.8 | 18 | | 2029 | **33.9** | 23 | | 2030 | **37.0** | 25 | | 2031 | 5.7 | 4 | | 2032 | 1.2 | 1 | Ownership is concentrated in the grid companies' pumped-storage arms: **State Grid Xinyuan** (33.9 GW across 26 units, plus 9.4 GW under State Grid Xinyuan Holdings) and **China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage** (13.6 GW). 73.5 GW across 60 units has no single developer recorded. ## Boundaries - NEA's installed totals and Ember's cycle counts are curated release figures (see `/data/h1_2026.json`), not a ChinaQueue timeseries. NEA's new-type storage is not the same series as battery-only counts from other compilers. - The GEM pipeline and the NEA installed figures measure different technologies: GEM's storage rows are pumped-storage hydro, NEA's new-type storage excludes pumped hydro. Do not add or compare them as one series. The pipeline is development activity, not a supply forecast. ## Data - [h1_2026.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/h1_2026.json) — curated, cited H1 2026 snapshot. - [summary.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/summary.json) — `storage_buildout` (GEM pumped-storage pipeline). - [map.json](https://chinaqueue.com/data/map.json) — `overlays.storage` (pumped-storage sites in operation or under construction).