The 500+Ah large-format battery cell market is heating up, as long-duration energy storage transitions from supplementary to essential.

Currently, energy storage has become the main driver of growth in the battery industry.

According to institutional statistics, from January to June this year, China's combined sales volume of power and energy storage batteries reached 97.94 GWh, a year-on-year increase of 48.6%. Among them, energy storage battery sales totaled 31.81 GWh, up 83.4% year-on-year—significantly outpacing the 36.2% growth rate of power batteries during the same period.

The most direct indicator of market enthusiasm comes from large-scale orders issued by state-owned enterprises. Recently, two major SOEs simultaneously released procurement announcements for energy storage systems, with a combined scale reaching 4.18 GWh. The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced a framework procurement for 2.98 GWh of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) energy storage systems, covering both 2-hour and 4-hour solutions suitable for shared or ancillary storage applications. Longyuan Power, meanwhile, plans to procure approximately 1.2 GWh of integrated energy storage system equipment, divided into three technical categories: grid-following, grid-forming, and string-type systems, with long-term supply agreements extending through late 2027.

Such GWh-scale tenders were rare just a few years ago but have now become routine in large-scale deployment of grid-side energy storage. This reflects a shift in the power system’s demand for energy storage—from being a "supplementary addition" to becoming a "core replacement." Energy storage is evolving from an optional component to a necessity within the new energy landscape.