China Energy Storage Network – Industry Research Report – CIES2025 | Major Release of the 2025 White Paper on the Development of China’s Industrial Microgrid
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The 15th China International Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition, hosted by the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association and co-organized by the Energy Storage Application Subcommittee and the China Energy Storage Network, grandly opened on March 23, 2025, at the Hangzhou International Expo Center. The theme of the conference is “Green, Intelligent, Integrated, and Innovative.”
During the conference, several significant research findings were released, including the 2025 White Paper on the Development of New Energy Storage Industry in China, the 2025 White Paper on the Development of Industrial Green Microgrids, the 2025 Report on Bidding and Price Analysis of New Energy Storage Projects in China, and the 2025 Analysis Report on Typical Applications and Development Trends of New Energy Storage.
The 2025 White Paper on the Development of Industrial Microgrids (hereinafter referred to as the Report) is edited by the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association and compiled by the Energy Storage Application Subcommittee. The expert committee of the Energy Storage Application Subcommittee provided academic support.
The Report analyzes and summarizes the development trends of the new energy storage industry in 2025 from ten aspects: current development status, policy overview, industry standards, technical aspects, model analysis, economic analysis, market situation, typical projects, significance and prospects, and development recommendations.
I. Current Development Status
The Report indicates that industrial green microgrids are currently undergoing commercial and large-scale development. The industry is gradually shifting from being primarily policy-driven to market-driven, with continuous advancements in microgrid technology and improving related mechanisms.
According to the Report, international microgrid technology research and applications are at the forefront, with several demonstration projects established, such as the Mad River Microgrid in the United States and the Mannheim Residential Demonstration Project in Germany. In China, research on microgrid technology is essentially synchronized with international developments, with universities like Tianjin University and Tsinghua University making significant progress in planning, operation, and simulation. Demonstration projects are increasing, including the Pudong International Airport Energy Center and the Beijing Gas Group Combined Heat and Power Project.
II. Policy Overview
The Report highlights a series of important policies introduced by national and local governments regarding industrial green microgrids, covering aspects such as the electricity market, standard construction, industry development, and technological innovation.
In January 2024, the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Peak Regulation, Energy Storage, and Intelligent Dispatching Capabilities emphasized the importance of microgrid construction. In March 2024, the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Green Development of Manufacturing encouraged the establishment of industrial green microgrids in industrial parks. In July 2024, the Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of a New Power System (2024-2027) proposed building intelligent microgrid projects tailored to local conditions.
Moreover, local policies are being refined, with provinces like Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang specifying the ratio of distributed photovoltaic storage. Many regions have introduced capacity subsidies and discharge subsidies as incentives. The Guangdong Province Implementation Rules for Market-Oriented Demand Response encourage user-side storage to participate in demand response.
III. Industry Standards
The Report notes that this year’s industrial microgrid standard system is becoming increasingly comprehensive, with significant progress in standard system construction. More than ten national and industry standards have been officially released or implemented, particularly in the planning, design, operation control, and energy management of microgrids.
Existing standards include Technical Regulations for Microgrid Access to Power Systems (GB/T 33589-2017), Microgrid Engineering Design Standards (GB/T 51341-2018), and Technical Specifications for Microgrid Energy Management Systems (GB/T 36274-2018). However, the Report states that safety standards, qualification evaluation systems, and operational mode standards for microgrids are still lacking and require a unified coordination mechanism to be established.
While China’s microgrid standards primarily cover engineering design, access requirements, and operational control, there remain issues regarding the completeness of the standard system. Safety standards lack risk assessment and reliability requirements, and a qualification evaluation system has not yet been established. Experiences from demonstration projects have not effectively fed back into standard development. The operational mode standards for industrial green microgrids are still absent, and different application scenarios lack differentiated technical requirements. It is recommended to establish a standards committee to study existing national and industry standards, formulate, and improve technical standards for industrial green microgrids to promote orderly industry development.
IV. Technical Aspects
The Report identifies that key technologies for industrial microgrids mainly involve six aspects: planning and design, system equipment, operational control and protection, energy management, modeling and simulation, and evaluation management.
Technologies like load forecasting, system design, and multi-objective optimization are widely applied to enhance system economy. Distributed generation (photovoltaics, wind power), energy storage systems (lithium-ion, sodium-ion, flow batteries), and power electronic devices (inverters, smart terminals) are maturing. Grid-forming energy storage technologies and adaptive fault isolation techniques ensure stable microgrid operation, while micro energy regulation technologies enhance grid coordination capabilities. Power forecasting accuracy has improved to the minute level, optimizing scheduling and deepening integration with electricity market transactions.
V. Model Analysis
The Report indicates that the business model and market mechanisms for industrial microgrids are gradually maturing. Energy storage projects within the grid can create diverse values for stakeholders based on specific project conditions, such as local electricity prices, industrial promotion policies, power system characteristics, and enterprise load profiles.
Currently, operational strategies and profit models for energy storage projects in microgrids include peak-valley arbitrage, demand response, distributed energy absorption, virtual power plants, and distribution capacity enhancement. Peak-valley arbitrage is a primary profit model, with price differences exceeding 1 yuan/kWh in various regions, and internal rates of return (IRR) reaching 14%-21%. Demand response and virtual power plant models are also being piloted in multiple locations, with revenue-sharing mechanisms gradually improving.
The development model primarily adopts the EMC model, where investors and owners share profits to reduce initial cost pressures. The financing lease model introduces third-party funds to alleviate cash flow pressure and accelerate project implementation.
VI. Economic Analysis
The Report reveals that in 2024, 174 new microgrid projects, including energy storage and distributed photovoltaic storage, were added nationwide, with a total installed capacity of 485.01 MW/1284.62 MWh and total investments exceeding 2.7 billion yuan.
The Report evaluates project returns using methods such as time-of-use pricing policies, load curve analysis, and investment economic indicators. Under the time-of-use pricing mechanism, energy storage users can save on electricity costs by charging during off-peak hours and using power during peak hours. As the domestic time-of-use pricing mechanism improves and price differences widen, the economic viability of energy storage is becoming evident.
With the rapid decline in energy storage device prices, EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) total contract prices have also significantly decreased. For example, for a typical 100 MW/200 MWh standalone energy storage system (excluding booster stations), the EPC tender price is around 1.05 yuan/Wh by the end of 2024, a decrease of approximately 25% compared to around 1.4 yuan/Wh at the end of 2023.
As the electricity market pricing mechanism continues to improve, the investment IRR for industrial park microgrid energy storage projects in most provinces is gradually increasing. In more developed regions such as Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shanghai, industrial park microgrid energy storage projects have already demonstrated significant economic viability, with returns exceeding 26% in Zhejiang and 17.62% in Guangdong in 2024.
VII. Market Situation
The Report indicates that there were 174 new microgrid projects added nationwide in 2024, including energy storage and distributed photovoltaic storage, with an installed capacity of 485.01 MW/1284.62 MWh and total investments exceeding 2.7 billion yuan.
The main installed capacity regions are North China, Northwest China, and East China, with Inner Mongolia (94.05 MW) and Xinjiang (87.7 MW) leading in scale. Guangdong has the highest number of projects (31).
The application scenarios are becoming increasingly diverse, including off-grid microgrids, energy storage/distributed photovoltaic storage microgrids, and distributed photovoltaic/wind power storage microgrids. By the end of 2024, the cumulative installed capacity of energy storage/distributed photovoltaic storage microgrids accounted for 18%, distributed photovoltaic/wind power storage microgrids for 66%, and off-grid microgrids for 16%.
The leading position of lithium iron phosphate battery storage remains unchallenged for the time being, while various technology routes are flourishing, particularly sodium-ion batteries, flow batteries, and flywheel energy storage, which are highly attractive in the market and have promising development prospects.
VIII. Typical Projects
The Report notes that several regions have initiated large-scale demonstration constructions and lists multiple existing typical experimental systems and demonstration projects of microgrids in China.
IX. Significance and Prospects
The Report emphasizes that industrial green microgrids are crucial for achieving a green and low-carbon transformation in industrial energy consumption and supporting carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.
Industrial green microgrids represent a primary development direction for future industrial power systems and will play a vital role in facilitating reforms in China’s electricity market. By integrating distributed photovoltaics, energy storage systems, and intelligent control technologies, microgrids can optimize energy allocation, reduce energy consumption, and lower carbon emissions.
The hardware forms such as energy storage and photovoltaics provide technical support for the development of industrial green microgrids; the accelerated improvement of electricity market trading systems offers institutional guarantees; and clear profit models provide an economic foundation for the development of industrial green microgrids.
In the future, microgrids will deeply integrate with smart cities, intelligent transportation, and other intelligent systems, creating a more intelligent, green, and sustainable energy ecosystem.
X. Development Recommendations
First, strengthen top-level institutional design, improve management mechanisms, optimize approval processes, clarify review conditions and standards, and ensure that microgrid projects possess self-scheduling and optimization capabilities. Second, build and完善标准体系,推动关键技术突破，特别是在系统集成方面，完善微电网的关键设备、信息管理及系统优化领域的技术规范。此外，明确微电网在电力市场中的主体地位，完善市场环境，将工业绿色微电网纳入电力专项规划，确保其作为独立电力市场主体和电网主体的权责明确。最后，加快工业绿色微电网的建设应用，在用能端推进节能降碳改造，满足日益增长的工业绿色微电网建设需求。
