Western system integrators face a continual ‘squeeze’ in where they add value in BESS and may struggle to keep up with the speed of technology innovation from China, Rept Battero’s Andy Tang said in a video interview with Energy-Storage.news recently.
It’s not often that someone has held top positions at both a Western system integrator and a Chinese battery OEM, which makes Tang well-placed to discuss market dynamics, speaking with the site at the Energy Storage Summit 2026 in London last month.
Last year he left his role heading up energy storage & optimisation (ES&O) for Finland-based power solutions firm Wärtsilä before becoming CEO overseas business for Chinese lithium-ion OEM Rept Battero (both top five players in their respective fields). We asked Tang about the move and how he saw competition between the two types of companies playing out.
‘Instead of trying to beat them, maybe it was time to join them’
“The challenge that I saw coming in the industry was really where do western integrators go, where can they play? There is a continual squeeze going on in terms of where is the value added coming from western integrators,” Tang explained.
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“Originally, and I feel this really wholeheartedly, it was in the value of the design of the enclosure, the fire protection and all the other features that we were able to implement and in the software, and there continues to be a lot of innovation and value in the software. The problem is that as far as the total value stack of a proposition of an offering goes, the software is still a very de minimis piece. And so can you continue to justify putting a markup on a markup on a markup, in order to provide the hardware where the value ad is getting lower and lower and lower, especially as Chinese battery manufacturers are vertically integrating into the DC block?”
“So I made the decision that instead of trying to beat them maybe it was time to join them.”
This ‘squeezing’ or ‘compression’ of the system integrator layer was also discussed by Alejandro Schnakofsky, CTO of US-headquartered system integrator Prevalon in an interview last year (ESN Premium access article). In it, Schnakofsky gave an overview of how the industry has developed in the last decade and why that ‘compression’ has happened.
Rept provides DC blocks to system integrators including Energy Vault and Hyosung Heavy Industries, modules to Prevalon, and was one of the battery cell suppliers to Oregon-based integrator Powin which filed for bankruptcy last year. However, Rept is eventually moving towards providing full AC solutions alongside its DC and battery cell offerings, Tang said.
Tang also said the the vertical integration of Chinese lithium-ion OEMs helps them develop and get solutions to market far faster than a company that procures battery cells. Watch the video interview above for his explanation of why, as well as for this views on the topic of local manufacturing in Europe and the US and whether BESS prices are about to go up or not.
The Energy Storage Summit USA 2026 will be held from 24-25 March 2026, in Dallas, TX. It features keynote speeches and panel discussions on topics like FEOC challenges, power demand forecasting, and managing the BESS supply chain. ESN Premium subscribers can get an exclusive discount on ticket prices. For complete information, visit the Energy Storage Summit USA website.