Canadian Solar intends to double its battery energy storage system (BESS) division’s manufacturing capacity, the company’s new CEO has said.
Vertically integrated global solar PV manufacturer Canadian Solar reported its first quarter 2026 financial results last week.
As reported by our colleagues at PV Tech, the company saw a quarter-on-quarter decline in both solar module shipments and net revenues, taking place as Canadian Solar shifts manufacturing capacity from China to the US.
Although its 2.5GW of PV module deliveries were in line with guidance, it was a 42% decline from the previous quarter and 64% lower than in Q1 2025. Meanwhile, with Canadian Solar having spoken previously of a “surge” in energy storage demand, its energy storage subsidiary E-Storage earned revenues on 2.1GWh of BESS shipments in Q1 this year.
Try Premium for just $1
- Full premium access for the first month at only $1
- Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
- Cancel anytime during the trial period
Premium Benefits
- Expert industry analysis and interviews
- Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
- Exclusive event discounts
Or get the full Premium subscription right away
Or continue reading this article for free
That was a 142% year-over-year increase. E-Storage shipped 2.6GWh in total, but that included 500MW delivered to an internal company project. From the remaining 2.1GWh it earned US$383 million.
The storage subsidiary’s contracted backlog stood at US$3.5 billion as of the end of the quarter, while it has 34GWh of operating projects contracted under long-term service agreements (LTSAs).
E-Storage president steps up as CEO to replace Shawn Qu
On last week’s call, Canadian Solar founder Dr Shawn Qu introduced his successor as CEO, Colin Parkin. Parkin was formerly president of the company and more recently president of E-Storage, where, Qu said, he was “pivotal in establishing our first-mover advantage in the energy storage sector.”
Dr Qu becomes Canadian Solar’s executive chairman and chief technology officer (CTO), focusing on its technology roadmap and long-term R&D strategy.
On the energy storage business, Parkin said in the earnings call that it is now deploying as much in a quarter “to a diversified global customer base,” as would have taken a full year “just a few years ago.”
The CEO claimed the company has also “significantly advanced our manufacturing capabilities.”
“For example, our internal production of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic cells is proving to be a distinct advantage in today’s market, as we have now achieved a cost basis below the market price of third-party cells,” Parkin said.
“This strategic vertical integration provides an economic buffer during cyclical fluctuations while equipping us with the proprietary technical expertise necessary to drive further innovation.”
Canadian Solar is expanding production capacity at its integrated BESS and battery cell factory in Southeast Asia and plans to double the manufacturing capacity of both its cell and the E-Storage SolBank BESS solution, “to ensure strong coverage of annual volumes with internally sourced compliant solutions,” Parkin said.
E-Storage began manufacturing its own BESS equipment and components in 2023, transitioning from supplying third-party white-label solutions. As of the end of 2025, its annual BESS assembly capacity was 15GWh and battery cell production capacity 3GWh.
New production lines are currently under construction and will come online in the first half of 2027, according to the CEO.
Canadian Solar said in FY2026 guidance that it expects to ship between 4.5GWh and 5.5GWh of utility-scale BESS in the US this year.
In response to an analyst’s question, CEO Parkin said that about 40% of Canadian Solar’s energy storage business is in the US, where demand continues to increase off the back of both front-of-the-meter (FTM) utility projects and behind-the-meter (BTM) data centre solutions.
At the same time, the CEO highlighted “a lot of progress in Europe,” the emergence of Japan’s battery storage market and Australia, where E-Storage does “a couple of gigawatt-hours a year,” of projects, as important markets that keep the firm’s portfolio diversified.
Of course, as with most BESS providers right now, AI data centres are a big focus for E-Storage.
“While we cannot actually disclose who we’re working with, I can tell you that we’re very engaged right now on data centre opportunities, and that it’s a big part of our programme and our focus, and we expect it to yield some pretty exciting results for us in the next quarters,” Parkin said.
Earnings call transcript by The Motley Fool.
Read more about Canadian Solar’s Q1 2026 financial results from a solar PV industry perspective on PV Tech.
