Energy Storage Makes a Comeback as the Star of the Show! After Visiting the SNEC Solar & Energy Storage Exhibition in Shanghai, We Get a Clear Picture of the Real Trends in the New Energy Industry
Created on：2026-06-08
Recognized globally as a leading indicator of industry trends, this year’s exhibition has reached new heights in scale. With 400,000 square meters of exhibition space and nearly 4,000 domestic and international companies gathered on-site, the event has attracted hundreds of thousands of professional visitors for networking and business discussions.
However, compared to previous years, the contrast at the venue is particularly striking. The PV module exhibition area, which once firmly held center stage, has seen a noticeable decline in popularity. In contrast, the energy storage exhibition area has surpassed it in every respect—whether in the number of exhibitors, booth space, on-site foot traffic, or the atmosphere of business negotiations. It is no exaggeration to say that energy storage has officially moved from its former supporting role to take center stage in the industry.
This year, the landscape has been completely rewritten. The exhibition features six dedicated energy storage halls, while the traditional PV module section has been reduced to just four. The strategies of leading companies further underscore this shift: industry giants like Huawei, CATL, BYD, and Sungrow have all secured custom-designed booths spanning over 1,000 square meters, with meticulous attention paid to booth design, live demonstrations, and interactive experiences.
In contrast, in the PV module area, although established companies remain steadfast, foot traffic is nowhere near what it used to be, and the crowded scenes of previous years are no longer visible. After speaking with many industry peers and exhibition managers on-site, everyone’s views were highly consistent: the industry has long bid farewell to the era of PV operating in isolation; the integration of solar and storage has become an inevitable trend that everyone must confront.
This shift in the industry landscape is, at its core, a true reflection of the current state of development in these two major sectors. In recent years, the PV industry chain has undergone rapid expansion. As production capacity across polysilicon, wafers, cells, and modules has continued to increase, the market has gradually reached saturation, and the issue of intense competition within the industry has become increasingly prominent.
Persistently falling product prices have continuously squeezed the profit margins of manufacturers. It is clear that the old approach of simply competing on production capacity and waging price wars is no longer viable. Relying solely on the sale of hardware equipment such as modules and inverters cannot sustain a company’s long-term development.
The energy storage sector, however, presents a different picture. Driven by multiple factors—including the “dual carbon” goals, energy transition, and market-oriented electricity price reforms—the commercial value of energy storage has been fully unlocked. Market demand has exploded across the board, ranging from industrial and commercial settings such as factories, retail stores, and hotels, to ordinary households, and even large-scale grid-connected power plants.
Peak shaving and valley filling, demand response, emergency power supply, grid peak-load regulation and frequency control… the range of viable business models for energy storage is growing ever richer. It no longer relies solely on policy support; tangible market demand has made it the most promising golden sector in the new energy field.
Precisely for this reason, companies that once focused exclusively on photovoltaics are now actively embracing energy storage. PV leaders such as LONGi, JinkoSolar, and Trina Solar are no longer merely showcasing individual module products; instead, they are prioritizing the launch of integrated PV-storage solutions that deeply integrate photovoltaic power generation, energy storage systems, and smart control equipment.
At the same time, energy storage companies are integrating PV technology to create end-to-end services encompassing “power generation + storage + charging + O&M.” When discussing industry development today, it is no longer possible to separate PV and energy storage; their symbiotic development has become a consensus across the entire sector.
After touring the entire exhibition, I gained another profound insight: the logic of industry competition has shifted to an entirely new track. In the past, companies competed on module conversion efficiency and rated power output, with all attention focused on hardware specifications.
But this year, nearly every company has moved beyond the mindset of competing on individual products; integrated solutions and full-lifecycle services have become the dominant theme throughout the event.
When introducing their products, exhibitors no longer simply list technical specifications; instead, they explain how to reduce electricity costs, ensure stable power supply, and shorten the payback period by addressing customers’ actual electricity usage scenarios.
Among these, commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage is undoubtedly the star of this year’s exhibition. With the gap between peak and off-peak electricity rates in China continuing to widen, many businesses not only face high monthly electricity bills but also have to pay a significant base load charge.
A single energy storage system can leverage this peak-off-peak price differential to shift electricity consumption, effectively controlling energy expenses. According to multiple companies at the event, the payback period for mainstream commercial and industrial energy storage projects is currently around 2–3 years. These tangible returns have made it a must-have for businesses across all industries.
The exhibition halls were bustling with visitors seeking consultations and partnership opportunities, and overseas buyers also expressed strong interest in collaboration.
In addition to traditional solar-storage companies, this year saw a particularly interesting trend: a large number of cross-industry giants have entered the market with great force. Leading enterprises from the power battery, technology, and home appliance sectors all made high-profile appearances with expansive booths.
Rather than joining the price war for photovoltaic modules, these companies leveraged their own strengths to focus on system integration and smart energy services. AI energy management platforms, cloud-based remote monitoring, and intelligent dispatch systems became the highlights of their displays.
By leveraging digital algorithms to optimize charging and discharging strategies and predict sunlight and electricity demand, they further enhance system returns. This integrated approach—combining hardware and software—has elevated industry competition to a new level.
Technological innovation was another major highlight of the exhibition. Judging by the exhibits on display, safety, efficiency, long-duration energy storage, and smart integration represent the four core directions of current R&D. Moreover, the technologies showcased are largely ready for commercial deployment, no longer merely conceptual products confined to the laboratory.
Safety is the bottom line for the energy storage industry, a fact that was vividly demonstrated at the exhibition. Today, liquid cooling technology has become widely adopted in commercial and industrial energy storage systems as well as large-scale storage facilities. Compared to traditional air-cooled equipment, liquid cooling offers higher cooling efficiency and more precise temperature control, effectively reducing the risk of battery thermal runaway at its source.
At the same time, new-generation thermal insulation and fire-resistant materials, intelligent early-warning systems, and specialized firefighting equipment are constantly being updated, while the monitoring accuracy of battery management systems continues to improve. The industry’s approach to safety has shifted from reactive measures to proactive prediction and prevention.
In terms of cutting-edge technologies, multiple development paths are advancing in parallel. Solid-state batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and flow batteries were prominently showcased, each targeting specific market segments. Sodium-ion batteries, with their low cost and excellent low-temperature performance, are rapidly being adopted in the energy storage sector; flow batteries, featuring ultra-long cycle life, are better suited for large-scale, long-duration energy storage power plants.
Turning to the photovoltaic sector, the technological roadmap has largely taken shape. Back-contact (BC) modules have officially become the mainstream, gradually replacing previous TOPCon and PERC products, with the conversion efficiency of mainstream products steadily increasing.
Furthermore, the integration of artificial intelligence and energy systems has evolved from a novel concept into an industry standard. Today’s photovoltaic-storage systems are no longer merely a simple combination of “power generation and storage.”
AI algorithms can automatically adjust the charging and discharging patterns of energy storage systems by integrating real-time sunlight data, electricity price fluctuations, and on-site power demand, while also enabling equipment failure warnings and remote operation and maintenance. An integrated smart architecture spanning the cloud, edge, and endpoints allows the entire energy system to operate more intelligently and efficiently.
From a market perspective, the entire industry is undergoing a new round of consolidation. The issue of overcapacity in the domestic PV market persists, price competition is intensifying, survival pressures on small and medium-sized manufacturers are mounting, and industry resources are increasingly concentrating among leading enterprises.
Although demand in the energy storage market is booming, competition is gradually intensifying as more players enter the market. Product prices are beginning to decline, and profit margins are similarly under pressure.
Faced with this market environment, expanding overseas has become a common choice for the entire industry. The European market, driven by high electricity prices and the demand for energy self-sufficiency, remains the core market for residential and small-to-medium-sized commercial and industrial energy storage. European buyers were ubiquitous at the exhibition, and expressions of interest in orders were constant.
Emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America are also rising rapidly. Strong demand for large-scale energy storage power plants and cross-border solar-storage projects has become a new direction for domestic companies to tap into growth opportunities. Many companies have also begun establishing localized production overseas to circumvent trade barriers and deeply penetrate local markets.
Of course, beneath the bustling surface, the industry’s existing pain points cannot be ignored. First is the ongoing spread of price wars, which are continuously squeezing profits in both the PV and energy storage sectors, placing significant operational pressure on companies.
Second is the prominent issue of technological and product homogenization; once popular technologies become widely adopted, it becomes difficult to establish a competitive edge. Finally, overseas trade policies are volatile, with tariffs, certifications, and localization requirements tightening across countries, leading to a simultaneous increase in the costs and risks associated with expanding into international markets.
By analyzing the signals emerging from this year’s exhibition, we can make a general forecast of the industry’s future trajectory. First, the integration of PV and energy storage will deepen, evolving from simple equipment pairing to complete systems featuring integrated design and management; PV-storage integration will become the industry standard.
Second, technological innovation will continue to advance toward high-end applications, with safety, efficiency, long-term durability, and intelligence remaining the long-term focus of R&D.
In terms of market dynamics, industry concentration will further increase, and the advantages of leading companies will continue to grow. For small and medium-sized players to gain a foothold, they must focus on niche segments and pursue a path of differentiated development.
Business models will also continue to evolve. The model of simply selling hardware equipment will gradually fade, while a comprehensive service model combining “equipment, O&M, and energy services” will become the industry standard.
After several days of visiting the exhibition, though I was exhausted from the constant travel, I returned with a wealth of insights. In the first half of the new energy industry, solar power dominated the scene, with everyone competing on scale and production volume; in the second half, solar and storage will inevitably move forward hand in hand, competing on system capabilities, technological innovation, and comprehensive services.
The fact that energy storage has achieved a “come-from-behind victory” is no accident; it is the result of both market demand and industrial development driving the sector forward.
For every one of us in the industry, the old ways no longer work. Only by keeping pace with industry trends, refining core technologies, deepening our understanding of application scenarios, and building unique competitive advantages can we secure a firm foothold in this new wave of transformation.
The new era of PV-storage symbiosis has arrived, bringing both opportunities and challenges. We look forward to the entire industry moving steadily and far, unlocking even more new value.
