The first monthly global grid-scale BESS deployment figures for 2026 are in from Rho Motion, showing a year-on-year fall and China continuing to account for the majority of activity.

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.

A total of around 4.9GW/14GWh of grid-scale BESS entered commercial operations around the world last month, a 29% fall year-on-year owing to an unusually slow month in China.

Nearly 70% of the 4.5GW/12.7GWh of grid-scale BESS that came online across the globe last month was in China.

A total of 49.4GW/136.5GWh of grid-scale BESS came online in the first nine months of the year, up 36% compared to the same period in 2024.

China again dominated global battery storage deployments in August, accounting for two-thirds of what came online, but Europe, North America and Oceania/Australia had good months too.

China continued to drive global grid-scale BESS commissioning activity in July, as the technology approaches the global installed gigawatt (GW) capacity of pumped hydro.

June 2025 saw a total of 7.96GW/22.17GWh of grid-scale BESS enter commercial operations across 109 projects, with over half of that being in China, while the overall first half of the year saw substantial growth.

China continues to dominate BESS deployments globally with 4.3GW/11.2GWh of deployments in May, including a 1GWh flow battery system.

Chile, China and Australia drove global BESS deployments in April, a month which saw nearly 9GWh of grid-scale capacity enter commercial operations.