China again dominated global battery storage deployments in August, accounting for two-thirds of what came online, but Europe, North America and Australia had good months too.
Total grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity coming online last month across the globe totalled 3,979.51MW by power and 12,463.745MWh by capacity, an average duration of 3.1 hours.
The latest data from market intelligence firm Rho Motion’s Battery Energy Stationary Storage Monthly Database shows that monthly deployments fell to their lowest level since April, although the summer break may have played a role.
In the year-to-date, 122GWh of BESS has been deployed globally, up 28% year-on-year. That brings the total operational grid-scale capacity to 189GW/457GWh, fast approaching the gigawatts of installed pumped hydro energy storage (c.200GW) as we announced in last month’s roundup.
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China accounts for the majority again
April was actually the only month in which China did not account for at least half of the global figure, and its deployment frenzy shows no sign of slowing down.
A total of 2,472MW/7,949MWh came online in China in August, 64% of the global figure.
North America accounted for 15% with 513MW/1,832MWh, Europe 8% with 530MW/1,035MWh, and Oceania accounted for 11% with 357MW/1,403MWh. Oceania’s figure almost entirely came from one project in Australia.
Smaller deployments in the rest of Asia and South and Central America made up the remaining c.2% (the percentages are rounded).
Notable projects in China and Australia
The three largest projects on which commercial operations were announced in August were the:
- China Huadian Wulumuqi Midongqu Beishawo Solar Base Standalone Energy Storage Project
- Qingyang Huanxian Solar + Wind + Storage Project Phase I projects (both in China)
- Phase two of the Collie BESS in Australia
The China Huadian project is a 1GW/4GWh system, which Rho Motion said is the largest single-phase lithium iron phosphate-based (LFP) BESS to enter operations in the world. Construction on it only started in Q1 2025, showing how quickly projects can be built in China.
The Qingyang Huanxian’s BESS is 323MW/1,291MWh while phase two of the Collie BESS, owned by independent power producer (IPP) Neoen, totals 341MW/1,363MWh. The combined phase one and two of Collie is 560MW/2,240MWh.
Notable large-scale projects also came online in the UK and France, while North America’s figure is likely in large part from a portfolio of projects in Oregon brought online by utility Portland General Electric (PGE).
Three non-lithium energy storage projects came online in August, Rho Motion said, the largest of these being a 100MW/400MWh flow battery project in China, the Poly Flow Chuxiong Lufeng Industrial Park Energy Storage Project.
Looking forward, the global project pipeline increased by 111GWh in August, bringing the total pipeline announced this year to 586GWh. The largest announced was the 8GWh Teeside GigaPark from developer Natpower in Redcar, UK, covered by our sister site Solar Power Portal.
This article is part of a monthly roundup for ESN Premium. See the previous ones here:
