The US and China have announced a 90 day ‘pause’ on their huge reciprocal tariffs while they continue negotiations, with the effective tariff on BESS more than halving to around 60%.
On day one of the Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025, the audience heard that although 2 to 4-hour duration battery energy storage systems (BESS) are favourable, longer durations are starting to challenge this.
US president Donald Trump will enact an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, affecting batteries and BESS, on top of a previously-announced tariff increase set to come in next month.
Virtual power plants (VPPs) are networks of small-scale, distributed energy resources, such as solar panels or batteries (and in some instances vehicles) which can together function as a single power plant, providing stability to the electric grid.
The new tariffs on batteries from China will increase costs for US BESS integrators by 11-16%, consultancy Clean Energy Associates said, adding that new guidance around the domestic content ITC adder will make it easier to access.