The global market pricing logic is undergoing a rare major shift — from chasing light asset growth stories to seizing heavy assets, low elimination, and irreplaceable physical infrastructure. The HALO framework proposed by Goldman Sachs has become a core allocation line for funds, and heavy asset portfolios have already significantly outperformed the market.
However, in this wave of scarcity revaluation, there is one asset with the fastest growth rate, rigid demand, and sustained high prosperity that has not been fully recognized: energy storage. Today, I will thoroughly explain the core logic of energy storage, its HALO attributes, and future potential.
1. What exactly is energy storage? Why has it transformed from &#34;small transparency&#34; to a core increment?
To put it simply, energy storage is neither a power station nor a transmission line; it is a power system's exclusive &#34;power bank&#34; + &#34;stabilizer&#34;: storing electricity when wind and solar generation is excessive and discharging during peak electricity usage, specifically providing peak shaving, frequency regulation, and capacity support for the grid. It is an indispensable independent adjustment resource in the era of renewable energy.
It can transform from a marginal &#34;small transparency&#34; to a core market increment for very practical reasons:
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<li>The penetration rate of renewable energy forces rigid demand.</li>
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The proportion of installed renewable energy capacity in China has exceeded 45%, with regions like Gansu and Qinghai surpassing 60%. The random fluctuations and non-dispatchability of wind and solar generation mean that what the power system truly lacks is not generation capacity but the adjustment capability to meet peak demand, making energy storage a necessary component.
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<li>Policy benefits support revenue.</li>
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New energy storage has been included in government work reports for three consecutive years, ranking among the six emerging pillar industries of the &#34;14th Five-Year Plan&#34;; the national-level implementation of a capacity electricity price system provides institutional support for revenue in the energy storage industry, which is expected to gradually rewrite the history of unstable energy storage revenue.
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<li>Scale explosion verifies prosperity.</li>
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By the end of 2025, the cumulative installed capacity of new energy storage nationwide is expected to reach 144.7 GW, with an annual growth rate exceeding 85%, surpassing pumped storage for the first time to become the largest adjustment power source, officially entering the trillion-level track.
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<li>Profit models have shifted from fragile to robust.</li>
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The revenue model has upgraded from solely profiting from peak and valley price differences to a threefold income of capacity compensation, auxiliary services, and spot arbitrage, significantly enhancing cash flow predictability, fully meeting the requirements for long-term capital allocation.
2. Why is energy storage considered a genuine HALO asset?
The core standards of Goldman Sachs' HALO framework consist of four criteria: heavy assets, low elimination, stable cash flow, and difficult to replace. Energy storage perfectly fits each criterion:
Heavy assets, extremely high barriers.
Energy storage stations are capital-intensive infrastructure, requiring significant investment and long construction cycles, as well as obtaining grid connection permits and safety environmental assessments, creating strong regulatory and resource barriers that are difficult to replicate quickly.
Low elimination, transcending technological cycles.
As long as humans use electricity and renewable energy generation exists with volatility, the adjustment value of energy storage will always exist and will not be disrupted by light asset technologies like AI and software; its economic attributes remain effective in the long term.
Stable cash flow, long lifespan.
Capacity electricity prices provide guaranteed income, with project IRR stable at 6%-14%; high-quality battery cells support a physical lifespan of 20-25 years for the station, matching infrastructure-level depreciation models
Scarcity Maximized
High-quality energy storage sites (close to substations, load centers, and wind-solar bases) are limited in resources, while the demand for power regulation continues to expand, perfectly aligning with HALO's core logic of &#34;scarcity repricing.&#34;
Three, why has such a high-quality asset not been fully priced?
Energy storage has not been fully explored, not due to insufficient value, but rather a lack of adequate recognition:
Inadequate Classification Recognition
The market has always lumped energy storage into the &#34;new energy&#34; category, conflating it with photovoltaics and wind power, focusing only on upstream battery cells and system integration, completely ignoring the operational asset value of energy storage stations themselves.
Inevitability of Cognitive Inertia
When it comes to heavy assets and low elimination rates, the first reaction is to look for related assets around important infrastructure facilities, thus narrowing the focus to traditional fields such as real estate, power grids, and minerals, while neglecting that we have entered the era of new energy (especially under the energy security risks brought by geopolitical conflicts). Compared to traditional energy, the high volatility of new energy has made energy storage a significant incremental direction that cannot be overlooked.
Four, why the short-term pullback? Are there really concerns about the profitability of energy storage?
Indeed, since late March, the energy storage sector has experienced a noticeable pullback, but this is not due to issues with the industry's fundamentals or narrative, but rather the result of funding behavior under macro pressure.
At the beginning of March, when geopolitical conflicts first began, a large amount of capital flowed into &#34;energy security&#34; related assets represented by energy storage due to risk aversion, driving a significant rise. However, as the situation of geopolitical conflicts worsened, the risk appetite of this batch of risk-averse funds further declined, preferring to reduce positions to cope with potential shocks rather than choosing more &#34;risk-averse&#34; assets, which led to the direction that had previously seen the most inflow becoming the one with the most outflow recently, resulting in this round of adjustment.
What’s the outlook now? After this round of pullback, the rolling price-to-earnings ratio level of leading energy storage companies has fallen below 20 times, and the index position has also returned to the level at the end of 2025. With the industry's prosperity still on the rise and no significant changes in fundamentals, after the release of funding sentiment, the sector is expected to return to the pricing logic based on fundamentals.
Five, looking ahead, great potential! New Energy + AI Dual-Drive Maximizes Prosperity
The growth of energy storage is not a single logic, but a two-way resonance of new energy's rigid demand + AI computing power explosion, fully opening up growth space:
1. New Energy Development: Energy Storage is a Must-Have Rigid Infrastructure
The continuous expansion of new energy installations cannot avoid issues of absorption and grid fluctuations, and energy storage is the core solution to unblock industry bottlenecks;
After the reform of the electricity market, actively pairing energy storage with new energy power stations can significantly enhance IRR, transforming storage from &#34;forced configuration&#34; to &#34;active profit choice&#34;;
From actual data and expectations, CNESA has raised the forecast for global energy storage installed capacity to reach 1414-2885GW by 2035, an increase of 8-17 times, indicating a very promising long-term space; domestically, the bidding volume from January to March this year was 164GWh, a year-on-year increase of 130%. Under the narrative of high oil prices, the global energy storage prosperity continues to rise
2. AI Development: AIDC Creates a New Power Gap
The growth of the AI industry is making Artificial Intelligence Data Centers (AIDC) the second growth curve for energy storage demand. With each step up in computing power, the power gap widens, transforming energy storage from an &#34;optional accessory&#34; to a &#34;necessary configuration.&#34; Currently, as the computing power of AI chips increases exponentially, power consumption is also skyrocketing. The new generation GB200 chip from NVIDIA has a power consumption of up to 2700W, nearly four times that of the previous generation H200. The power consumption of the subsequent Rubin architecture will continue to rise, and the global electricity demand for AIDC is surging at a pace far exceeding that of traditional data centers. The stability of power supply and peak regulation capability have become the core bottlenecks for the realization of computing power.
This surge in electricity demand directly creates a rigid power gap. Morgan Stanley estimates that from 2025 to 2028, AI data centers in the United States will generate nearly 45GW of power gap. The global electricity shortage for AIDC continues to expand, and traditional power grids struggle to meet its high power, high stability, and low fluctuation electricity requirements, making energy storage an essential option for AIDC construction.
Compared to traditional backup power solutions, energy storage can simultaneously meet the three core demands of AIDC: peak shaving, power backup, and electricity price arbitrage. It can discharge during peak electricity usage to ensure uninterrupted operation of computing power and charge during off-peak hours to reduce operating costs, perfectly matching the stringent requirements for high-reliability electricity for AI data centers operating 24/7. As global cloud providers and AI companies continue to invest in computing power infrastructure, the demand for energy storage to support AIDC will continue to lead the industry, becoming the core driver for boosting the prosperity of energy storage after the integration of new energy and storage. In the next 3-5 years, the installed capacity of energy storage in this sector is expected to double.
6. Energy Storage is About to be Rerecognized by the Market! High Oil Prices + Pricing Blind Spots, Value Reassessment is Imminent
Currently, the market's valuation of energy storage is severely inadequate. Coupled with the ongoing impact of high oil prices, the reassessment of energy storage's value is imminent and ready to launch.
Insufficient Pricing Due to Geopolitical Conflicts Leading to High Oil Prices: High oil prices directly increase the overall energy costs globally, further widening the price gap between peak and off-peak electricity markets, significantly enhancing the peak and valley arbitrage profits of energy storage and the value of grid regulation. This explosive profit elasticity is currently severely underestimated by the market and is not reflected in the current valuations.
Insufficient Attention to the New &#34;HALO&#34; Assets: Mainstream capital continues to flock to traditional HALO assets such as copper mines, power grids, and oil and gas pipelines, consistently failing to include energy storage in the core configuration framework. The scarcity and long-term stable cash flow characteristics of energy storage, which are authentic HALO attributes, have yet to be fully priced by the market, leading to a significant expectation gap in the industry.
The reassessment of energy storage's value is supported by solid fundamentals. Capacity pricing policies provide institutional support for project profitability, leading battery companies have overcome the challenges of long-term operation lifespan and safety of power stations, and long-term capital is accelerating its entry into the market. The financing capability and market recognition of energy storage assets have significantly improved
As market perceptions gradually correct, funds will eventually bid farewell to the past short-term speculation mindset of &#34;trading energy storage equipment themes&#34; and shift towards the long-term value investment logic of allocating energy storage infrastructure assets. The valuation system for energy storage will also transition from a growth theme to one that possesses stable cash flows as infrastructure value, thoroughly opening up continuous upward space.
How to layout energy storage? There are already matching investment tools available in the market.
[Focus] Energy Storage Battery ETF E Fund (159566, Connect Fund A/C: 021033/021034)
Focusing on the core links of the energy storage industry chain, it is the largest energy storage-related ETF in the market, tracking the Guozheng New Energy Battery Index, concentrating on advantageous links such as battery manufacturing, liquid cooling, home storage integration, inverters, and liquid cooling, providing better representation of the energy storage theme. As of April 7, 2026, its scale reached 6.6 billion yuan, with ample liquidity.
[Comprehensive] Battery ETF E Fund (159175)
Comprehensively covering the battery industry chain, it tracks the Zhongzheng Battery Theme Index, including upstream resource products, midstream components, and downstream cell manufacturing across all links. It is a more comprehensive index covering the energy storage-related industry chain.
Table: Energy Storage Battery ETF E Fund is more &#34;Focused&#34; while Battery ETF E Fund is more &#34;Comprehensive&#34;
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/O2y6iqAxloRK7x1EkLZnOShAKdF9vXu3WExVd22MOH-I0AA/641?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/O2y6iqAxloRK7x1EkLZnOShAKdF9vXu3WExVd22MOH-I0AA/641"/>
Data source: Wind, data as of March 2026

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The global market is undergoing a transition from light assets to heavy assets, with Goldman Sachs' HALO framework becoming the core of capital allocation. Energy storage, as an emerging asset, is gradually gaining market attention due to its rigid demand and high prosperity. Energy storage is not only a regulating resource for the power system but is also expected to reach an installed capacity of 144.7GW by 2025, becoming a major regulating power source due to policy support and changes in profit models. Energy storage meets the standards of Goldman Sachs' HALO assets, possessing characteristics of heavy assets, low obsolescence, stable cash flow, and difficulty in substitution

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Goldman Sachs

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What is the new HALO asset that has attracted much attention, and what is the continuously rising prosperity of energy storage?