On March 23, 2025, the 15th China International Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition (CIES2025) opened in Hangzhou. A significant highlight of the event was the dedicated product launch sessions, where over 30 companies showcased their latest energy storage innovations.
Participating companies included prominent names such as China Electrical Equipment Group, China Energy Construction, China Mobile Energy, South Power Supply, EVE Energy, Zhiguang Energy Storage, Conch Ronghua, Singularity Energy, Pylon Technologies, XJ Group, Bosera Energy, Ilanova Energy Storage, Changfeng Green Energy, New Ai Electric, Beiren Green Energy, Guanlong Electric, Kangjin Electric, Meike Sheng, Wanjin Energy Storage, Jianjie IoT, Yuntian Energy Storage, Xiankong Electric, Tongfei Co., Juneng Technology, Songzhi Co., Zhongke Jiuyan, Youdan Technology, Gaote Electronics, and Huashu Technology.
The new products on display spanned various technological pathways, including energy storage cells, large storage systems, commercial and industrial storage systems, PCS, flow batteries, and compressed air energy storage. The development of these new products reflects the current competitive landscape of the market and the direction of new technologies within the industry. In 2025, with the rapid growth of the energy storage sector, the iteration speed of products and technologies across the energy storage supply chain has notably accelerated, revealing new development trends.
261kWh Becomes the Mainstream in Commercial and Industrial Storage
In recent years, commercial and industrial energy storage has become a highly competitive sector due to its cost-effectiveness, though product homogenization has become a significant issue. Since 2024, major manufacturers have upgraded their 100kW/215kWh commercial energy storage cabinets to create differentiated competitive strategies. Without increasing the overall cabinet size, they have employed a medium-voltage direct current configuration with 380Vac low-voltage grid connection and 260 series 314Ah cells, compatible with a 125kW bi-directional inverter, resulting in the launch of the 261kWh commercial energy storage cabinet.
From the CIES2025 exhibition, it is evident that the 261kWh product has become the mainstream offering in the commercial energy storage market. Singularity Energy’s eBlock261 was hailed as the “energy engine for commercial storage,” featuring high energy density, a compact footprint, high system efficiency, and multiple safety protections. Pylon Technologies introduced a 261kWh liquid-cooled energy storage cabinet specifically designed for small to medium-sized commercial solar applications, addressing storage needs within 2MWh. Changfeng Green Energy launched the second-generation Lingxi series of integrated solar storage products, including a 125kW/250kWh model that uses 300Ah lithium iron phosphate cells and supports 125kW PCS AC output, 120KW DC photovoltaic input, and grid-connected/off-grid switching functionalities.
Additionally, commercial storage capacity and energy density continue to increase, emphasizing contextual features. In the second half of 2024, Ronghe Yuan Storage, Sunshine Power, and CATL successively introduced large-capacity commercial storage cabinets of 500kWh, 836kWh, and 752kWh. Earlier this year, companies such as Penghui Energy, Oriental Sunrise, Sunshine Power, Huazhi Energy, and Hive Energy also launched products with capacities of 520kWh, 836kWh, 520kWh, 313.5kWh, and 268kWh, respectively. At CIES2025, Pylon Technologies presented a 417kWh energy storage direct current cabinet designed for large commercial solar storage needs, accommodating 2-5MWh storage requirements. Singularity Energy’s eBlock-418 energy block features a modular design with 690V AC output, enabling direct parallel expansion on the AC side, providing a highly efficient and safe design from hundred kWh storage units to GWh storage stations.
Focus on Large Storage Products in Trending Markets
The rapid development of China’s energy storage industry has given rise to numerous new business models and trending markets, becoming a focal point for companies within the supply chain. As a key technology in building a new power system under the “dual high” characteristics of electricity, grid-type energy storage has demonstrated significant development potential in 2024 across bidding volumes, project applications, technological advancements, and supply chain layouts. Forecasts suggest that grid-type energy storage could achieve a penetration rate of 20% globally within the next five years.
As demand for grid-type solutions grows, the research and development of grid-connected energy storage systems are evolving in two main directions, including high-voltage storage systems. At the exhibition, Zhiguang Energy Storage showcased a GW-level grid-type cascading high-voltage energy storage station system with a total capacity of 500MW, integrating ten sets of 35kV cascading high-voltage direct liquid-cooled energy storage systems. This 35kV grid-type cascading high-voltage storage system employs a unique “modular” topology, with individual units capable of reaching hundreds of megawatt-hours. Additionally, Shanghai Xiheng Technology unveiled the world’s first 125kW grid-type commercial storage PCS at this exhibition, enabling seamless switching between grid-connected and off-grid modes.
With the rapid growth of the digital economy, the demand for computing power is surging. Data centers and intelligent computing centers, as core infrastructure for computing power, are increasingly facing energy consumption challenges. The proliferation of renewable energy and the transformation of power systems are elevating the role of energy storage technology in energy management. The combination of computing power and energy storage has become a critical path for enhancing energy efficiency, reducing operational costs, and ensuring stable electricity supply.
In February of this year, the “Action Plan for High-Quality Development of New Energy Storage Manufacturing Industry” was introduced, targeting users with high electricity reliability and quality demands, such as data centers, intelligent computing centers, and communication bases, to promote the deployment of new energy storage solutions. This indicates a national-level initiative to further advance the application of energy storage across various industrial sectors, particularly in data centers and intelligent computing centers. Projections indicate that global investment in the construction of data centers will continue to accelerate, with the number of newly established data centers expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.6% between 2022 and 2026.
With both policy support and market demand, the integration of computing power and energy storage is poised to become the next significant opportunity in the energy storage sub-sector. At this year’s exhibition, China Mobile Energy showcased a 20-foot 2.5MW/5MWh container, designed primarily for intelligent computing center applications.
Immersion Liquid Cooling Emerges as a Market Favorite
Due to the thermal characteristics of batteries, thermal management has become a critical aspect of the electrochemical energy storage industry. As more and larger energy storage projects are deployed, immersion liquid cooling technology is rapidly becoming a market favorite. This system utilizes liquid cooling for temperature control of battery packs and PCS, allowing for precise thermal regulation to ensure uniform cooling compared to traditional air-cooling methods.
Despite its clear advantages, the cost of immersion liquid cooling has historically hindered its acceptance in the market. Although the initial investment is high, immersion liquid cooling solutions can provide sustained value throughout the life cycle of energy storage systems by enhancing charging and discharging efficiency and reducing auxiliary power consumption, ultimately making its overall cost competitive with traditional liquid cooling solutions. Since last year, newly released products have indicated a growing acceptance of immersion liquid cooling in the market. In 2024, Sunshine Power’s new PowerTitan2.0, featuring a fully liquid-cooled design with liquid-cooled PACK and PCS, has set a benchmark for temperature control technology in energy storage systems, prompting other companies like Kehua Data, Infineon, Hemai Electronics, and Shenghong Co. to follow suit.
At this year’s CIES2025, multiple companies introduced immersion liquid cooling energy storage products. China Mobile Energy presented a 100kW/215kWh lithium battery energy storage cabinet for commercial use, featuring dynamic full immersion options that guarantee 100% fire safety with multi-layer protection, including gas extinguishing and water spraying. They also showcased a 20-foot 2.5MW/5MWh container with selectable temperature control methods, including immersion cooling and cold plate cooling. Furthermore, addressing challenges such as difficulties in introducing grid electricity in extremely cold environments, the need for backup batteries in low-temperature conditions, and high operation and maintenance costs, China Mobile Energy launched a zero-carbon energy system for extreme cold scenarios, utilizing immersion lithium battery technology with high safety, high efficiency, and high intelligence to ensure a balance of supply and demand in zero-carbon systems.
Kangjin Electric exhibited smart energy storage cabinets, zero-carbon integrated devices, and various battery modules, including liquid-cooled, air-cooled, and immersion options. Shifuning Energy showcased their commercial liquid-cooled series SET-ESS-MAT-100/215Y and SET-ESS-MAT-344(372)Y energy storage systems, which use perfluorohexane and an integrated immersion fire suppression system, featuring a three-tier fire warning and alarm mechanism to ensure comprehensive safety. Tongfei Co. introduced two new products, a PCS liquid cooling system and a variable frequency immersion liquid cooling system. The PCS liquid cooling unit uses refrigerants as the heat exchange medium, while the variable frequency immersion liquid cooling system combines variable frequency technology and oil cooling, primarily intended for outdoor immersion storage systems.
