A staggering total of 18GW/65GWh of large-scale BESS came online in China last month, accounting for a quarter of the total capacity deployed across the globe in 2025.
That’s according to the latest dataset from market intelligence firm Rho Motion’s Battery Energy Stationary Storage Monthly Database, which Energy-Storage.news tracks on a monthly basis in an ESN Premium series.
China has been by far the largest deployer of large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) as well as renewable energy generation throughout 2025. Each month it has accounted for 50-90% of the global figure: 73% in November, for example.
It was 92% of the 20.5GW/71GWh that came online globally in December. That global figure is a monthly record, nearly doubling the next largest month (December 2024).
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Five projects of 4GWh entered commercial operations in the month, all of which were in China and with 4-hour durations, Rho Motion said. A total of 20 projects of 1GWh or more came online, again all in China and all were lithium-ion bar two. One of those was a 1GWh flow battery, the largest ever deployed using that technology.
Regional breakdown
Europe finished the year strongly, putting 1,074MW/2,289MWh into commercial operation bringing the total for the year up to 4,972MW/10,884MWh. That annual figure is a 28% year-on-year increase. While the December figure may be surprising considering the Christmas break, it is based primarily on announcements to projects may have come online a bit earlier.
Notable projects we reported on include a 200MW/400MWh BESS in Romania from Nova Gas & Power and a 200MWh co-located project in Denmark from European Energy, covered in this roundup.
Africa, Asia excluding and North America also finished the year strongly, while the Middle East, Oceania including Australia, and South & Central America don’t have any projects coming online according to Rho Motion’s data. A trio of projects totalling 7.8GWh in Saudi were announced as connected to the grid, but this may not count as fully operational.
| Region | December MW | December MWh | Full-year MW | Full-year MWh |
| Africa | 76 | 180 | 271 | 569 |
| Asia (ex-China) | 499 | 834 | 941 | 2,168 |
| China | 18,119 | 65,429 | 55,039 | 161,855 |
| Europe | 1,074 | 2,289 | 4,972 | 10,884 |
| Middle East | 2,837 | 10,626 | ||
| North America | 759 | 2,328 | 15,033 | 46,544 |
| Oceania | 4,278 | 9,739 | ||
| South & Central America | 845 | 4,105 | ||
| Total | 20,527 | 71,060 | 84,216 | 246,490 |
Construction and durations
Meanwhile, 26GWh of BESS projects either had technology suppliers enlisted or started the construction phase. These two milestones can often go hand-in-hand. Five projects of 1GWh or more were in this section, four which in China and one in Queensland, all utilising LFP batteries, Rho Motion said.
Average project durations are also increasing, to 3.4-hours across operational projects in December 2025. Three LFP-based projects in China of 1.2GWh or more had six-hour durations, whilst a total of 60 projects comprising over 57GWh had durations of four hours or more.
See the other pieces in this series below:
Energy-Storage.news publisher Solar Media is hosting the Energy Storage Summit EU 2026 in London, UK, on 24-25 February 2026 at the InterContinental London – The O2. See the official website for more details, including agenda and speaker lists.
A month later comes The Energy Storage Summit USA on 24-25 March 2026, in Dallas, Texas, covering key topics like FEOC challenges, power demand forecasting, and managing the BESS supply chain. For complete information, visit the Energy Storage Summit USA website.
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