The solar PV and energy storage expo SNEC 2026 in Shanghai, China, was the place to see product launches and showcases from the big players.
Taking place 3-5 June at Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC), with attendance estimates running into the hundreds of thousands, China’s biggest trade show is also, of course, the biggest in the world.
In past years, some companies have strategically chosen to launch flagship products at overseas expos such as RE+ in the US, Intersolar/ees Europe, and our publisher Solar Media’s global Energy Storage Summit series.
While this trend is likely to continue in line with industry dynamics, SNEC remains a place for technology providers to be seen.
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With its origins and central focus on solar PV, it is also no surprise that, alongside pure play energy storage and battery companies, the leading players of China’s solar market also use the event to signal their growing interest in battery energy storage system (BESS) technologies.
Here are a few of the companies that attendees saw last week in Shanghai, with their product launches, showcases and teasers:
CATL reveals sodium-ion product spec
The world’s largest lithium-ion (Li-ion) OEM offered first glimpses of the technical specifications for its emerging line of sodium-ion (Na-ion) BESS solutions.
CATL’s sodium-ion BESS container is scheduled for its first mass deliveries in Q3 2026. Using the same standard 20-foot container form factor as a typical Li-ion BESS enclosure, the product features 3.07MWh energy capacity, weighing around 47 tonnes.
CATL boasted a cycle life of 15,000 cycles at 25 degrees C operating temperature, going to 9,000 cycles at 45 degrees C. CATL claimed that this makes it 80% more effective than Li-ion at higher temperatures.
Its 316Ah Na-ion cell, also showcased at SNEC 2026, is fully compatible with the manufacturer’s existing 587Ah lithium iron phosphate (LFP) system architecture, including container and module structure, battery management system (BMS) communication and power conversion system (PCS) matching.
With thanks to Arthur Clair of BESS quality inspection firm Sinovoltaics and LFP battery maker JLi Battery’s Jerry Wan for their useful LinkedIn posts on the CATL products.
Hithium showcases 8-hour duration LDES solution
BESS-focused Li-ion OEM Hithium brought its ‘8-hour native long-duration energy storage (LDES) solution,’ ∞Power 6.9MWh BESS to the show, also unveiling its ∞Cell 650Ah large-capacity energy storage battery as well as a 10+MWh version of ∞Power.
The company claims that its products, specifically designed for LDES applications and first launched in late 2025, respond to market demand for cost-efficient, safe, reliable and mass-produced solutions. Hithium said LDES is a strategic priority for the company.
Within the standard 20-foot ISO container form factor, ∞Power features a 1300Ah cell developed by Hithium. Designed for 25-year operational lifetime, the solution can be deployed in side-by-side or back-to-back configurations.
In addition to showcasing its full range of products, including 1175Ah and 587Ah cells, 2-4-hour versions of its Li-ion BESS, and a 1MWh Na-ion BESS, Hithium also signed a 1GWh, three-year strategic cooperation agreement at SNEC 2026 with Vietnamese residential, commercial and industrial (C&I) energy solutions company DSS Solar.
LONGi’s solar-plus-storage portfolio
Following its relatively recent entry into the energy storage space and acquisition of the system integrator PotisEdge, solar PV big-hitter LONGi was at SNEC 2026, highlighting its solar-plus-storage strategy, LONGi ONE.
The idea is to provide customers with an integrated offering that reduces reliance on procurement from multiple suppliers, and therefore complexity and potential efficiency losses in system design and project execution.
The LONGi ONE portfolio includes utility-scale, C&I and microgrid BESS solutions alongside PCS technology. The company claimed its OneBank 2.0 and OneMatrix 2.0 utility BESS products achieve 93% round-trip efficiency (RTE), while cluster-level management enables a lifetime energy throughput increase. They can also achieve 99% availability, LONGi said in a release.
Meanwhile, its C&I solution, Hi-MO One, increased onsite solar utilisation by 30% at a recent project in China, LONGi claimed.
The overall integration also provides customers with a single accountable supplier, which has often been a pain point for developers.
EVE signs 67GWh of capacity contracts on show floor
Vertically integrated battery manufacturer and BESS technology provider EVE Energy was, like others, showcasing a high-energy-density 20-foot BESS solution. Alongside its existing Mr Big series of BESS enclosures, the new product promises 6.9MWh+ of energy capacity within the same form factor.
EVE said cell-to-pack integration enables Li-ion BESS to perform more than 10,000 cycles, underpinned by multiple layers of fire safety protection.
Meanwhile, from the show itself, the company said it signed deals totalling over 67GWh. Agreements were signed with Chinese companies Shanghai Power Electronics, Jiangsu Vertrans Energy Technology, Zhejiang Savant Digital Technology, Tianjin RY Energy and Brazilian company Genesis Energia e Technologia.
Rept Battero sodium-ion and AIDC lithium cells
Battery and BESS manufacturer Rept Battero, in addition to bringing soccer legend Ivan Cordoba to the show in celebration of the company’s partnership with Italian team Inter Milan, showed off its new Na-ion cell.
Rept Battero’s 320Ah sodium-ion version of the company’s Wending battery cell is aimed at large-scale BESS applications. The company claimed that the Wending 320Ah is capable of 20,000 cycles and maintains energy efficiency of 97% or higher in charge-discharge cycles.
The company also showcased a new 85Ah high-power lithium-ion cell, which is specifically designed for backup power and peak shaving applications required by artificial intelligence data centres (AIDCs). The cell supports 10C maximum continuous discharge rate with a cycle life exceeding 60,000 cycles and has undergone thermal runaway, needle penetration and other safety tests.
Watch our exclusive video interview with Rept Battero overseas head Andy Tang from this year’s Energy Storage Summit 2026 in London, UK.
Hoymiles debuts AC container
Best known for its module-level solar inverters, Hoymiles was, like LONGi, showcasing products for the solar-plus-storage market at SNEC 2026.
Hoymiles debuted the HoyPrime AC 6.126MWh AC container alongside its range of other utility-scale, C&I, residential and DIY energy storage solutions. HoyPrime integrates batteries, PCS-level controls and system-level energy management into one platform.
The company claimed that its factory pre-assembly and pre-commissioning simplifies onsite installation and reduces commissioning times while ensuring product quality consistency.
For the C&I market, Hoymiles presented its C&I all-in-one BESS solutions, including a DC-coupled model. Other products included a grid-forming PCS for solar in weak-grid environments, balcony solar kits, and a residential all-in-one battery system.
GCL SI brings mobile solar storage solution for off-grid industry
GCL System Integration Technology (GCL SI) brought out a mobile solar PV storage solution, EcoPower Mate, for its first public appearance.
Aimed at the off-grid market such as mining and heavy industry applications in remote environments, GCL SI claimed it can deliver onsite power at significantly lower cost than equivalent diesel generation and backup capacity.
StarCharge showcases solid-state transformer
Electric vehicle (EV) charging and BESS solutions provider StarCharge showcased its new solid-state transformer (SST).
The SST enables medium-voltage direct connection and six-way power output, which StarCharge claimed improves conversion efficiency for heavy-duty EV charging hubs, utility-scale BESS and data centres.
StarCharge’s range of products also featured liquid-cooled EV charge solutions, a 960kW integrated solar-plus-storage charging system and its own 6.25MWh BESS container, which uses 587Ah battery packs. The company also announced a renewable energy, virtual power plant (VPP) and investment partnership with Australian renewable energy product distributor SolarJuice at the show.
